The Games We Play
by xMissFortune
Summary: PERMANENT HIATUS
1. Default Chapter

**So, okay, this is gonna be my first attempt at a TT fic. So I hope for some support and constructive criticism, since I've become a bit shaky with my writing since my writing style matured a bit (I hope XD) and I'm scared of making amateur mistakes. **

**I hope you like it. Oh, and just so you know there isn't any Slade/Raven romance. If anything they hate each others guts XD It might have some slight Rob/Rae, why? Because I like that pairing and those who don't like it can click the back button right now! Flames are NOT welcomed, because I didn't make you read this. If you do, the following options may occur:**

**A) you'll be ignored**

**B) you'll be horrible humiliated**

**C) I just might hunt you down and be the sadistic psychopathic maniac that I am ^_^**

**Diclamer: If I did, would I be writing this?**

**And with that being said, here we go…**

* * *

**Default Chapter**

I've never seen perfection.

I've never seen a heart that was made out of stone and yet bled more blood than I have ever spilled in my life. I've never seen a bird like this one. She flies with grace. Each flap of her wings is calculated and measured as if she knows that her figure is dancing on my screen and that I am watching, observing, analyzing…

And yet, for all this time, she showed no fault. Not once. Her face is hid in the shadows so that if she does slip no one sees it.

I've always been one for bird-watching, and this bird… This bird is beauty. This bird is perfection. This bird… is a **lie**.

A mask, a warrior paint, designed to show nothing less than perfection. And she wore it day in and day out… and now it came alive. Others believe it is her and she leads them to that conclusion. That she is, and always will be, stone. That she is ice. That **she is dead**.

(_chuckle_) So young and yet such a magnificent liar.

She lives a charade for them. Leads them to believe that she always can and always will be able to do and be what they need the most. And so far, to my astonishment, she was.

When they were scared and on their knees she stood up, grasping all her strength just to stand still for a few moments and give them courage, so they would stand up as well. But as soon as they don't look she trembles, she shakes, she fears, and that false sense of security she bestows upon herself and others melts.

When they hurt with raging crimson, she heals them with false ease, yet as soon as she enters the solidarity of her room she collapses, she bleeds, she hurts. For them.

Always for them…

What a bird… (_chuckle_)

Though I can't help but wonder… How long till your wings bend and break and you find yourself on the ground with no more strength **to lie through your teeth** of never feeling, of never hurting?

That would be **bliss**.

To see you cornered, to see you crawl, to see you for once helpless. To applaud you as an actress that you are and see how much longer can you keep pretending. Then, reveal the real you. The one I don't even know.

I know you are a girl, but are you a demon like many voices whisper, or are you just a mere child scared of losing?

So far you play your part perfectly, covering your tracks so well as if they never existed, and no one can find you in this endless game of hide and seek. You're a player that started the game and hid so well that they almost forgot that you even played. (_chuckle_) **Almost**.

And so you're hidden, my little bird. You hid so well that some don't even bother to search anymore.

And I can't help but wonder if that would change… no… as a matter of fact it will… you just need the right place…

_A few taps on the keyboard._

The right time…

_Several screens came to life revealing four other figures._

The right motivation…

_A smirk made its way on his face._

… And of course… the right player.

* * *

**Sooooooo… how horrible is it? **

**REVIEW!**

**Reviews are music and music inspires!**

**I blow you a kiss!**


	2. In the Night

**Here we begin with our story and I find this chapter… INCREDIBLY boring. You have no idea how I just want to cut through all the boring parts and get to the really good ones! :D But alas, I have to restrain myself TT-TT **

**So here it is, hope it doesn't bore you to tears but I'd still like some nice reviews… if you're still awake that is… XD**

**Oh, and just so all of you know I re-wrote the default chapter and fixed the mistakes I didn't see… and I said that I didn't want to make amateur mistakes, hehehehe… XD**

**Not gonna ramble on much longer. I'd like to thank and give cookies to all those who started to read my story.**

**So 'Thank-you's and cookies go to: mavrick588, animalllover and Chimei-chan for reviewing and adding my story to your faves and alerts ^_^ You made me happy!**

**And without further nonsense I give you the lamest chapter E-V-E-R!**

* * *

**Chapter 1: In the Night**

The glow of the giant screen illuminated the room in dim light. The low hum of the computer and other electronic devices running in the tower buzzed in his ears while his fingers taped rhythmically beside the keyboard.

Normal… Everything was normal…

His masked eyes narrowed in suspicion.

It was his nature to be suspicious. Nothing, at least in their lives, was normal. Hell, he didn't even understand the definition of normal anymore. Besides, if he weren't suspicious and questioning everything, who would?

Certainly not Beastboy or Starfire. Cyborg could be convinced too easily that there was nothing to worry about and Raven… Well… She was Raven. So Robin took it upon himself that even when things were quiet he'd question that silence. It was his nature, his urge to know so he could use the situation to his benefit. He didn't like being at a disadvantage. No, there were too many risks and dangers lurking for him to be ignorant of anything and as leader it was his job to be at the top of his game and lead his team safely to do their job without anyone getting injured and getting property damaged… more or less… they still had to work on that part…

With a sigh he put his hand on his forehead before sliding it all the way down to cup his chin.

It's been too silent lately, more then Robin would have liked it to be in the city. The crime rates have plummeted and the Teen Titans have been graced with free time.

He scrolled down some newspaper articles and carefully scanned them.

He didn't like it when the city was silent. Why? Because you never knew for how long that silence would last and why. It would either be that:

A) villains and criminal have taken a vacation (which he highly doubted),

B) that the Titans were getting better (most lightly, but that didn't mean that they should get sloppy) or:

C) that the villains are preparing a surprise for them with a new laser-weapon ready to blow up the city or attempts of countless robberies. And Robin didn't like surprises.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair letting his head roll backwards.

Masked eyes met amethyst.

"Gah!" he jumped out the chair like someone shot him. She just starred at him with a bored expression as he pressed his hand against his chest taking deep breath.

Robin really, REALLY didn't like surprises.

"Damn it, Raven. Don't do that."

Her eyes narrowed as she folded her arms.

He blinked a few times as she just kept starring at him with an annoyed expression. Seeing as she didn't say anything he grew uncomfortable under her gaze as if he was a kid that's been caught stealing cookies before dinner.

"Um… Anyway, why are you up? It's like…" he checked the clock on the computer screen, "… three in the morning."

"I should be asking you the same thing." she raised an eyebrow.

He just stared at her a few moments before walking back to his chair "I'm just looking through some stuff, why?" he sat down.

"Need I remind you of yesterday's conversation?"

He turned his head to glance at her "Conversation?" he ranked his head for a specific dialog he had with Raven through the whole day, mostly consisting of 'hello's', 'how are you's , a few sarcastic comments and 'good night's, but nothing to indicate her reason for being awake.

"Yes, the one you and Cyborg had yesterday morning. You know the one consisting of various slang's such as 'yo', 'dude' and 'don't stay up too late' and you nodding and saying 'I won't, man. Promise'…"

He stared at her for a few moments "Oh, that conversation…"

"Yes, that conversation. Now why are you still up?" she took a step towards him.

With a defeated sigh he leaned back in his chair.

"It's too silent…" he mumbled. She now stood next to him and gazed at the screen. One would always expect a sarcastic comment from Raven of how stupid that sentence was, but she knew what he meant. Somehow she always knew. At first that put him on edge, only later did he come to terms with that and found out that… he actually didn't mind.

She always managed to understand his gestures, movements, reasons, indications, his suspicions and paranoia. And it felt good having someone who understands you, no matter how annoying it got at times when his ego overpowered his rational side.

"Silence is safe…" she spoke in her famous monotone.

"But not always," he looked at her before looking back at the screen, "It's only a matter of time before someone starts wracking chaos…"

"Then at least we won't have to worry about losing our jobs," she pulled a chair near by and sat next to him, "But if someone does, we'll stop them…"

He gave her a skeptical look "I never imagined you to be the one for optimism, Rae…"

"It's Raven," she shot him a glare before shaking her head. "And I'm not…" he raised an eyebrow at that, "I'm just trying out ways to get you out of that chair before your butt fuses with it and off to bed. Besides…" she turned her head to look at him, "I find it hard to believe that the heroes of Jump city would be condemned to a fate of flipping burgers due to villains being too lazy to rob a bank…"

A small chuckle escaped him, "I don't know Raven. I mean I can kind of imagine you in an apron…" he grinned.

"How about me cooking? Can you imagine that?" she raised an eyebrow and he barked out laughing. Raven was legendary at the Titans Tower, besides Starfire, for not being able to cook, and they found that out the hard way during the events of the Prophecy.

The corners of her lips twisted in a ghost of a smile at hearing him laugh.

He wiped an imaginary tear away, "Okay, maybe not cooking… But definitely in an apron…" he grinned again.

She scoffed at that, "Only in your wet dreams…"

He stifled a yawn.

She looked at the screen before turning back to him "Go to bed, Robin. I'll take over…" she used her powers to push his chair and it rolled away on it wheels taking Robin with it.

"Hey…" he chuckled as she started typing on the computer. She didn't respond.

"Raven, I'm not done yet…" he stood and walked over to her.

"I still have a few more things to check out…" She ignored him.

He lightly poked her in the arm and she just lazily turned to him "Go. To. Bed."

He could only sigh in defeat. He knew Raven well enough to know that when she gives him 'the look' it was her way or the high-way no matter how hard he tried.

"You sure?" She just raised an eyebrow at him. "Sorry, stupid question…" he rubbed the back of his head.

"Robin. Bed." A slight frown graced delicate features.

"Okay, okay…" he backed away with his hands in a peaceful manner.

Red lights suddenly flashed, a familiar alarm blared.

"Guess that won't be happening anytime soon…" Robin mumbled under his breath and ran back to Raven who stood up.

"An alarm's been tripped at Pier 41," she typed a few commands on the keyboard before looking back at the screen.

Heavy footsteps could be heard racing towards them, followed by the familiar swoosh of the mechanical doors.

"Where's the 911, Rob?" Cyborg ran towards them followed by a sleepy Beastboy and a flying Starfire.

"Break in at the docks," Robin turned to glance at them before quickly turning back to the screen. His masked eyes narrowed in suspicion as he read the words on the report.

_- Culprit: Unidentified –_

With a slight jerk of his head he turned to his teammates, "Titans, move out!"

Following their leader's command the teens ran out. Two engines roared to life and sped to their destination.

* * *

**So how was it? ^_^ I know you liked it!**

_Zzzzzzzzz…_

**Um… hello?**

_Zzzzzzzzz…_

**Oh, come on! It wasn't that bad… was it?**

_Zzzzzzzzz…_

**(Curses something under her breath)**

**REVIEW!**

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	3. The End of Silence

**Yay! Here we are with a chapter two! Sorry for taking so long, I have to be honest and say that I have been lacking with inspiration these pass two months and that I have no excuses for my lack of up-dating. XD **

**I actually have been killing myself to try a different type of writing style, sort of like the one from the most awesome fanfiction that I read called 'Of Dreams That Are' by Thomas the Betrayer. I simply feel in love with both the story and the way it's written so I have been trying over and over to write this with satisfaction.**

'**Thank you's to: animalllover, paranoia XXL, Secret-H, Kai3anime, -X-Deyoxis-X-, lotusblomsten, Gabriela (), BlackFoxTrio, xXxAloneInTheDarkxXx and Ana Shadow Wolf who were added me to their faves and reviewed. You guys seriously rock ^^**

**So on with the story!**

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**Chapter 2: The End of Silence**

Each step he made faintly echoed against the metal bridge above crates and boxes.

Tap… tap… tap… its rhythm slow and casual as if he were having a stroll in the park.

His whole being melted within the dark. The only indication that he was there were the low footsteps and the occasional swift movement of his silhouette across the steaks of pale moonlight that would manage to wiggle their way through the cracks among the high crates.

Like a ghost. Other people would see him only if he wished them to. He would appear in one movement in front of them, and just as easy disappear without a trace. He'd play with them, taunt them and psychoanalyze them without them even knowing it. And by the time most of them figured out what he was doing, he would have already won. His pray would cower and fear him, potential opponents would tense, desperately intent on defending or attacking. And in the end, they would all be defeated anyway.

It was pathetic really.

His eye caught two dark figures through the window that were flying across the clear night sky towards him. One darker than the other.

A bird.

He chuckled at the thought. Some cowered, others fell, and the birds? The birds got angry and chased after him, determined to defeat and overpower him. And he was a ghost. Birds were constantly chasing ghosts.

Robin was certainly a bird, but Raven? She was the pray during her birthday, she was a warrior who battled him fiercely after the rather pointless chase for the Gem, but was she a bird? Birds chased ghost, but never caught them. And she had caught him once.

He slightly shifted at the memory of her four red eyes, of the truth that left her mouth.

He took a few more steps before he was once more engulfed in the dark cloak of the night. He cast one last gaze towards his army, hidden around their soon-to-be playground, before turning his attention to the soon-to-be-opened doors of the warehouse.

He'll have to wait that moment, of course. He _was_ a patient man after all. He will watch them from the above, like they were lab-mice running through a maze, and enjoy the few moments in which the pray actually thinks it's the predator. He always found that part most amusing.

And then he'll set up the last few pieces for his little games.

* * *

The air whizzed pass her ears. She kept her eyes in front of her as they flew through the chilling night air.

No matter how much she concentrated on the view of the piers that was getting closer and closer, a part of her attention was always drawn to the glimpse of red beside her.

They both sped to the required destination, Starfire slightly passing ahead of Raven. The other girl took notice of this even though her eyes never moved from their earlier destination and she slightly sped up to catch up with her alien friend.

Starfire, of course, hadn't noticed that. Tamaranians were natural flyers from birth. They loved it, felt it, craved for it, and so, many times in battle and otherwise, Raven found it hard to keep up with the red-haired girl.

She would always unconsciously fly ahead of her and Raven had to struggle many times to get ahead of the girl. It wasn't out of competitive spirit, which was something Raven knew she had the least of, and neither was it a speck of envy she admittedly would sometimes feel towards her beautiful friend, but merely out of concern. Wound up in all her joy of flight and excitement Starfire would at certain times become unaware of her surroundings and forget that they were headed for battle.

Much to Raven's dismay, she had grown to love Starfire like a younger sister. A much too enthusiastic and to a certain point ignorant younger sister, but a sister nonetheless. And just like an older sibling, she was protective of the girl. Everyone on the team was. She simply had that effect on people. With her naivety of things always turning out for the best and constant belief that everyone would do the right thing, it was simply hard not to get addicted to such blind optimism and innocence. And with that protectiveness of the girl, came a determination to keep her ignorant as much as she could from the harsh world they lived in.

Ignorance is bliss and who was she to argue with that when she constantly found herself envious of such thing from her female friend. She was pure, where as she was not. And if she could keep harms away from her in any way then she would do it, just as she would for her whole team. Her friends. Her family.

Her eyes slightly narrowed as she prepared for any surprises they may encounter upon their arrival. It happened a few times that their enemies would attack them with a long-ranged weapon or what-not even before they arrived at the scene of the crime. She remembered Starfire once getting hit during her flight, and Raven cursed herself for not noticing the criminal earlier and not getting her out of the way.

She never liked seeing her friends pained features, not when she could stop it. And with the power she'd been given since her birth she knew she could.

With a screeching halt the T-car came to a stop beside the red motorcycle below them as they softly landed on the ground. With a small nod towards her leader all eyes turned to the warehouse as the last two members stepped out of the T-car.

"Cyborg, any readings?" asked Robin, not averting his gaze.

With a few taps on his arm the robotic teen frowned. "No," his voice nothing but serious as he locked his eyes on the warehouse, "No energy signatures, no movements, no nothing… Something's blocking all the signals."

_A trap_… Raven's mind echoed as Robin's eyes narrowed as she presumed he came to the same conclusion.

"Come on," he jumped off his R-cycle and drew out his bo-staff as his teammates followed him to the twin metal doors of the warehouse. Putting his free hand on one door and Cyborg on the other he carefully looked at them.

"Keep your guard up guys." They all simultaneously nodded as he turned to Cyborg who changed his other hand into the sonic-cannon and also mutely nodded.

With the quick nod of acknowledgment they slammed the doors open, already in their fighting positions.

"Freeze!"

…Silence and dark greeted them along with the dying echo of the metal doors.

Five pairs of eyes scanned the dim-lit paths along the rows and rows of barely visible crates for any movement. They found none.

Something twisted in Robin's stomach. He didn't like this one bit, but what had to be done, had to be done. With a quick glance at his teammates he took a step forward.

"Spread out."

And so they did, each one of them disappeared into a dark-lit path between the high walls of numerous crates stacked upon each other.

* * *

Tamaranians were warriors. They did not fear battle, they carved for it. However, they had a different outlook on the word 'battle' from humans; one which she had yet to understand.

Her finger slightly twitched as she levitated to a crossway before glancing left and right. Each way looked the same, a single dark path leading deeper into another crossway such as this one. She turned left briefly glancing above, where she was met with the sight she saw everywhere she turned: more darkness. She suppressed a shudder.

Unlike humans, Tamaranians fought for the release from the constant harvesting of positive emotions from which they're drawn to. They fight not to harm, but to release themselves of the energy which threatens to consume them whole. They find no pleasure in hurting other, or being hurt for that matter. None of them were fond of pain. Pain brought fear and fear pulled you under.

Slightly shaking her head she levitated across another dark path and came into another crossway. Glancing right she could make out her friend Cyborg carefully patrolling through the path and pointing his sonic-cannon in precaution when coming across another pathway. A small breath of relief washed over her at the sight of an ally she trusted and loved as a friend. Continuing her way she took the path in front of her.

But whereas her people fought for the thrill of the fight, humans fought for what she could not understand, for what she did not wish to understand. Times they fought for material goods, for religion, for revenge… and for other things she could not even imagine. Some she witnessed herself here on Earth, as of others she learned from the television and other various ways while trying to learn the Earth cultures and ways.

She was shocked. Whereas Tamaranians fought for release… humans fought to murder.

She shuddered once more as the path she went became darker and darker. Slightly shaking her head she dismissed the thought and softly landed on the ground.

No, not all humans. She met wonderful people who took her in, cared for her and she cared for them. And the people of Jump city who she protected and who looked up to her for that. But knowing there were humans such as those and that they had disturbing intents made her furious… (_how could they do such things to their own kind?_)

She couldn't see anymore as she ventured deeper in a part which moonlight couldn't reach.

But thinking there were humans such as those, criminals with such foul intents in her presence, made her fearful.

She raised a starbolt in her hand as she ventured further in the dark.

Tamaranians fought for release, not to harm. But humans that she fought against attacked to kill.

Soon she came across another crossway and turned left.

Starfire was not fond of pain.

A crash from somewhere behind her made her turn sharply around and come face to face with a black mask with an orange circle in the middle of it.

Pain brought fear and fear pulled you under.

She screamed.

* * *

He took cautious steps, silencing his movements as much as he could.

'_Stealth is the key to victory,'_ Batman once told him. And he was right. Many times in situations like this he could hear his enemies' movements or plant a seed of fear in them as they didn't know where he was, which resulted in them accidentally giving away their location.

If it weren't for stealth many villains and criminals would have gotten away.

He gripped his bo-staff a little tighter.

And if it weren't for stealth he would have missed the slight noise from above him.

He looked up.

His eyes widened and he quickly leaped to the side milliseconds before a crate slammed onto the ground and broke into pieces.

A dark chuckle came from above him. He froze.

"Good reflexes, as always."

He knew that voice, he knew it far too well. Something stirred inside his chest.

His head snapped up, gaze locking with a single dark eye of the dark muscular silhouette threateningly hovering from the above. His lips parted agape into a single word…

"Hello, Robin…"

_No…_

A scream tore through the ware house.

An explosion followed.

And before he knew it…

_Hell broke loose._

* * *

**So that's it for now. I'm writing the next chapter as we speak. I'd really appreciate some comment and reviews on my writing and story, they make my head swell in satisfaction ^^ So just click the little review button and let me know what you think.**

**Reviews are music and music inspires!**

**I blow you a kiss!**


	4. Tricks and Traps

**A/N Okay, I am officially pooped! I think my head exploded while trying to write this chapter. I mean, just look at its length! Wow, I even surprised myself. O.O Fourteen pages people! Fourteen!**

**It was supposed to be longer, considering what's supposed to happen, but my aching fingers pleaded 'Please no more! Spare us!', thus I decided to leave it for another chapter. Meaning there's much more to come. =D **

'**Thank you's go to: Trigonometry, -X-Deyoxis-X-, loveerrrr, Gingerstorm101 and xXTheAnimeAddictionXx who reviewed and added me to their faves and alerts. You. Guys. ROCK! ^o^**

**So being that this is my first attempt at writing fighting scenes for the Teen Titans I'll ask of you very nicely that before any of you begin reading this you put away your pitch-forks and weapons and give me a 30-second start so I can run away. 'O.O **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Tricks and Traps**

A green Bull terrier made its way along the path of crates with his nose near the ground. After a few steps he raised his head to look around.

An instinct he always followed. Sniff, look around, listen, and repeat. In short? Be aware.

His left ear slightly rotated to the side as he concentrated on the distant sound on his right.

…tap… tap… tap… tap…

Taking a few steps further he was facing one wall of the warehouse. He was out of the maze of crates and left only to go left or right along the wall or back from where he came from.

…tap… tap... tap... tap…

Raising his head a bit he took a few sniffs. The smell was familiar, just like the dark blue robe slipping further away from him when he looked left. And in the same moment he noticed her, she turned around and noticed him as well.

She stared at him; amethyst eyes pinned on his form and a completely expressionless face.

He slightly cocked his head to the side while trying to figure out why she was staring. Raven never stared.

Did she not recognize him or something? Nah, it couldn't be that. You don't forget someone whose skin is green (_and who is quite handsome_). Besides, he annoyed her on a daily basis to the point of her wanting to practically murder him. Raven was never the one to forget… Maybe forgive him for his antics, but not forget. Therefore he saw no reason for her to stare at him like that.

With a slight nod she turned back and continued on her way, leaving him puzzled.

Sometimes that annoyed him. Never being able to read her like she did others, but not because of her powers. Raven was smart and good at figuring out people, and for that he respected her. For someone who had claimed somewhere in the past that emotions were useless, he was positive she knew more about them than she let on. She told them that her feeling any emotions was dangerous. However, Beastboy knew that she still felt them no matter how she tried to deny it. Hell, there was proof of that right there! She could feel, but she'd never let herself take the risk of hurting others. In short? She cared.

Beastboy could never actually comprehend how someone could be so… un-selfish. Yes, that was the word. Unselfish. Always putting everybody's health and wellbeing before her own. She did it for them.

Always for locking herself away, meditating for hours, always for them.

So Beastboy felt in debt to her, for he never knew a person who showed how much she cared without showing one single emotion. Her deeds spoke louder then her words or facial expressions ever could. Thus he took it upon himself to get her to be selfish. He didn't know how bugging her and dragging her out of her room and then getting his butt kicked would work but, in a strange way, it… kind of did.

He always snooped around her, trying to know as much as he could about the dark mystery that is Raven. And still, with all he managed to find out, he was still curious. Then again, he was curious mostly about everything.

_Blip….….. _

His ears perked up at the muffled sound that brought him back to reality.

He turned his head around picking up on the distant noise one more.

_Blip….….. Blip….….. _

Determining that the faint sounds origin came from the left, the green bull terrier sniffed the air and took a few steps in that direction.

He took cautious steps, his only lead being the sound, as he could smell nothing out of the ordinary.

_Blip….….. Blip….….. _

The noise was getting a bit louder, just enough for his animal ears to follow better. A few more steps before he changed into his normal form. Step by step, the sound was getting closer.

_Blip… Blip… Blip…_

His heart slightly picked up speed and he took long deeps breaths through his nose to calm down.

"Hey, BB, found something?"

He jumped letting out a small 'eek!' before he quickly spun around and glared daggers at the metal teen that stood behind him.

"Dude!"

Cyborg grinned "Awwww, did I scawe wittle ol' B-?"

"Shhhhhhh!" the changeling put his finger on his mouth and Cyborg's grin instantly melted down into a serious expression. He changed his arm into the sonic-cannon.

"What is it?"

Beastboy turned around once more and closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on picking up the sound again "Listen…"

The teen stood still for a moment, trying to hear what his green friend did. His eyes looked left then right in confusion.

"I don't hear anything B."

… _Blip… Blip… Blip…_

'_There!_' Beastboy's eyes snapped open and he continued walking. Cyborg stared at the back of his head for a second before following close behind, holding his transformed arm and ready for action.

_Blip… Blip… Blip… Blip…_

The sound was getting louder as they ventured further along the wall. Closer…

_Blip… Blip… Blip… Blip…_

They were coming near the wall at the end of the warehouse. Almost there…

_Blip… Blip… Blip… Blip… Blip… Blip… Blip…_

….. it stopped.

He blinked, and then he blinked again.

"Ha?"

"What's wrong?" Cyborg took a step closer to him when the green boy suddenly stopped.

… nothing.

His dark green eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"Beastboy?"

He took a step towards the wall.

"B?" the older teen arched an eyebrow on the human-part of his face.

He leaned his ear on the wall.

….

A crash. A scream.

…**BEEEEEEEP!**

His eyes widened.

"Oh, shi-!"

**BOOM!**

They shouted out in surprise as the force shoved them away, thus making them crash against the stacks of crates behind them. Cyborg's body broke through one crate and made an avalanche of crates that crashed down on him, while Beastboy slammed against another crate with his head hitting the hard wood with a small crack, before he sank to his knees.

* * *

Wrong…

The silence of this place…

The way it seemed still… frozen…

It all felt wrong.

A small frown graced her face as she moved along the wall.

Her eyes widened when she heard a scream from her right, her head quickly snapping in that direction.

"Star-!" but before she could even make a step in her direction-

**BOOM!**

A wave of dust and smoke washed over her from her right and she automatically put her hands up to shield her eyes.

* * *

The dust hung in the air creating a curtain of fog.

"Oh, man…" groaned Cyborg as he pushed a wooden crate off of him and got on all fours.

Beastboy hissed through his teeth as black dots played in his already muddled field of vision. He put one hand on the hurtful spot on the back of his head.

"Ugh…" His vision was slowly getting back to normal.

"What was _that_?" Cyborg's eyes were screwed shut as he rubbed his still hurting head.

The dots finally disappeared and after a few blinks Beastboy looked up.

"Um, Cyborg?"

"What?" he hissed, finally looking at the wide-eyed changeling.

The cloud of dust slowly settled and revealed a huge blown off part of the wall with a large group of identical figures standing on the other side.

"We have company."

* * *

Her heart thumped loudly in her chest, her eyes wide in the direction of the explosion.

"Beastboy…" she whispered.

An angry cry from her left made her head snap to Starfire's direction, followed by a small explosion when a red-headed figure shot up into the air.

The girl's eyes flashed a vibrant fury green and with another angry shout she released a rain of bright starbolts onto the ground below her.

Starfire hovered high above the dust clouded maze, her eyes dimming to their regular shade and scanning for any visible movement.

"Starfire!" a familiar voice made her spin around. Her green eyes caught the sight of a familiar blue cloak and widened as she took notice of five figures in a predatory stance from above her friend.

"Raven!" she reached out her hand but quickly jerked it back with a gasp as a red laser from bellow missed her arm by an inch. Glancing in the way the laser came from she saw three more slade-bots who immediately started shooting at her.

Dodging to the side she turned back to her unsuspecting friend.

"Friend, above you!" she managed to shout before she was met with another series of lasers to dodge from below.

Without hesitation Raven's head snapped up just as two figures landed from above in front of her.

Her eyes widened as she saw the color combination on the masks of the figures.

'_Slade…_'

She froze. Her heart skipped a beat. And then, in less than a second, wide amethyst eyes narrowed into an angry white.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she shot out her arm and enclosed the two slade-bots in a white-lined black aura. With a swift jerk of her arm she violently slammed them against the wall behind her.

A laser nicked the edge of her hair and she jerked back to find two more slade-bots with laser-guns blocking the path to where her green teammate was.

Raven took a step back before she heard something. She looked up and saw three more robots (two of which had laser guns) hanging from above her. She took another step back before quickly looking back at the other two in front of her. Then she turned her head to the right where the other two bots she had slammed against the wall stood up in fighting positions.

'_This…'_ her hands glowed in a dark aura _'…is not good_'.

* * *

His ears echoed with jumbled noises. Small explosions and crashes mixed with the sounds of laser shots and various warriors' cries and shouts from his teammates. Yet his feet stayed glued to the spot, his eyes never moving from the towering figure.

Something was set off in his chest. A flick of flame that rapidly grew bigger, hotter. Turning into a blaze of flaming inferno which he tried to soothe and calm down.

"Slade," his lips curved into a vicious scowl, voice laced with bitter hot venom, burning his mouth.

Another chuckle came from the man standing high and mighty on top of one of the many high crates with his hands placed behind his back. "It's been quite some time, hasn't it?"

The scowl on Robin's face only deepened as his grip on the bo-staff intensified. "**Not** long enough," he empathized slowly.

"Oh, come now, Robin. I would have expected a much warmer welcome from an old acquaintance," Slade slowly tilted his head to the side. The amusement never left his voice, which only added more fuel to Robin's fire.

"Why are you back?" he almost growled, but managed to restrain himself. Losing his concentration in battle, especially with **this man**, would end only in devastating results. And God knows it, Robin's had had it with Slade. Each time he showed up their lives would take a turn for the worse and, as he could recall the end of the world and the blond girl who betrayed them, so have many other lives.

Another chuckle…

'_Calm down, just calm down…_' he bit on the inside on his mouth, eyes slightly narrowing.

"Just looking for my favorite little bird."

No sooner had the words left the man's mouth, Robin's eyes widened at the crate Slade pushed with his foot and that was coming towards him. Leaping to the side he pulled out his grappling-hook and shot it upwards swinging himself onto the uneven turf his sworn enemy was standing on.

Robin wasted no time and leaped at the masked man, bringing down his bo-staff which Slade easily evaded by stepping to the side and putting up his arms to block Robin's incoming back-kick. As soon as he put his block down he was met with a series of attempts of hits with the bo-staff, all of which he easily dodged.

When Robin shot out his bo-staff in another attempt to hit his opponent, Slade only raised one hand to block. As soon as staff came in contact with his metal gauntlet, Slade grabbed the staff with his other hand. He faked the attempt of taking the staff out of the boy's hands by jerking it towards himself, to which Robin only tightened his grip on the weapon and prepared to counter him by striking him with the other end of the staff.

No sooner had he lifted the other end of his weapon than Robin realized his mistake. The staff was strongly pushed back, stabbing him in the stomach. The result was him loosening his grip on the weapon, which was promptly snatched from his hands, and getting the air knocked out of him

Without even a second to catch his breath he was met with a six-hit combo on his upper-body part with his stolen weapon. Grunting as the last hit shoved him roughly back against a crate, he slightly recovered from the impact, just in time to leap to the side and evade the tip of the weapon that smashed right through the crate where his head had been a moment ago.

Doing a flip on one arm he landed himself in a crunching position. He glared up at his enemy not to far from him twirling around his bo-staff before confidently placing it beside him like a warrior.

Slade lowered his chin an inch in a taunting manner, which was enough for Robin to grind his teeth and pull out another bo-staff from his utility-belt.

'_**He's going down!**_'

* * *

"Auuugh!" an angry cry escaped her lips as she used her own momentum to hurl a large starbolt from her hands onto the tower of crates below that were crawling with slade-bots. Then she shot up in air once more and steadying herself in flight.

She didn't even get a chance to inspect the damage of the mass of broken wood combined with robot-parts bellow, because a red beam brushed itself along her upper arm, making her yelp in pain.

Covering the small wound with her other hand she spun around, vibrant angry green eyes locked onto her next opponent. Launching herself in the direction of more slade-bots she tackled one head-on and then halted half-way, letting him crash into a nearby crate pile.

Starfire lowered herself onto the ground as she kindled two more starbolts in her hands and spun around ready to take the rest of the group. Two came head-on to her while one stayed in the back aiming his weapon at her. Leaping to the left she evaded an attack from the first one, making him fall to the ground when she shoved her elbow in his back.

Heading for the second one, who had both of his arms outstretched and ready to grab her, she threw one starbolt and hit him square in the chest, which made him stumble back a bit as a result. Without wasting a second she grabbed the still-stunned robot and forcibly brought him down onto the starbolt in her other hand, thus breaking through his mechanized chest.

Leaving the now limp mechanic body to fall to the ground she took a fighting stance and concentrated on harvesting the energy within for another attack. Her eyes never left the robot in front aiming at her. He shot at her and she jumped back a few times in a zigzag motion to avoid the lasers.

She begun forming two more starbolts in her hand but, before she could attempt and attack the robot, two mechanical arms wrapped around her, breaking her concentration and pinning her arms to her sides. Trying to wiggle out of the iron grip of the robot she previously forgot about, she stole a glance at the one in front.

A short gasp escaped her and she begun jerking in his hold trying to free herself. As soon as she managed to free one of her hands she grabbed him by his shoulder. With all the strength she could muster up in that moment she flipped him over and with a warrior cry hurled him at the slade-bot aiming at her.

The robot crashed into the other one and sent them both flying into a tower of boxes that fell on them upon the impact.

The young Tamaranian woman stood panting, still in a fighting position, her chest heaving up and down from the long battle. After waiting a few moments for the small cloud of dust to settle down, she concluded that the two masses of wires and electricity wouldn't get up anymore and thus lowered her hands.

Brushing back a crimson lock that fell in her eyes behind her ears she took a few minutes to compose herself.

Thuuuuump!

She yelped as something bit at her neck. Quickly spinning around she stared at the one-armed slade-bot she had previously launched at the pile of crates. His only arm was bailed into a fist and aimed at her.

One of her hands went to the nape of her neck while the other sparkled with green energy. Upon feeling her fingers brush against a thin metal needle that was pierced into her skin, the green starbolt began to flicker away.

Starfire blinked a few times, finding it difficult to concentrate on the blurring figure in front of her. A wave of panic was soothed as she was suddenly feeling very, very drowsy.

THUD!

The robot calmly settled down his one remaining arm as the young woman fell to the ground, out like a candle.

* * *

"Chaaaaaaaarge!"

The heaps of slade-bots were sent flying through the air as a green skinned rhinoceros with a half-mechanical man on top of him slammed into them.

The robots crashed all around them, either on the crates or the walls of the ware-house. The Afro-American teen smirked victoriously.

"Booyah!"

The rhinoceros arrogantly lifted its head and let out a small huff.

"Nice going B," Cyborg half-grinned to his friend. No sooner had the word left his mouth than a rain or red lasers came from behind them.

"B! Four of them! Six o'clock!" the metal man glanced back, eyes filled with surprise at the four slade-bots shooting at them.

With a triumphant lift of his front legs the green dinosaur begun running forward, the ground slightly shaking beneath his heavy stomps.

"What are you doing? I said six o'clock! Not twelve! Six!" the teen grabbed better hold for dear life and ducked as lasers rapidly missed him by inches. Ignoring the older teen's shouts of protest and direction lecturing, Beastboy kept running forward, picking up speed while trying not to get nicked by the red beams shot at him.

"-that means you're supposed to go the other- Beastboy!" Cyborg halted mid-sentence and shouted in panic as he spotted the wall ahead of them that was getting closer and closer.

"Other way! Other way! Other way!" he screwed-shut his human eye and barred his teeth preparing for impact when Beastboy made an unexpected U-turn, heading faster than earlier towards the firing robots.

Opening his eyes to see if he was still in one piece, Cyborg noted with a relief that they changed directions and were now approaching the slade-bots at rapid speed. Quickly holding out his transformed arm with an angry cry he blasted one of the four robots on the side. While Beatboy, still in his momentum, lowered his long sharp pointed horns and then, gathering the other three robots on his head, stopped and with a jerk of his neck sent them flying into the air with a deep dinosaur cry.

Fragments of metal fell from above like confetti as Cyborg pointed his canon to the still-flying slade-bots and blew them to pieces.

"Ha-ha! That'll teach them to-" the metal teen was once more cut off by the sound of lasers behind them. Jumping off the green rhinoceros he aimed his canon at more slade-bots behind them.

"Man, how many of these things are there?" he yelled in frustration as he kept trying to shoot down more robots.

In a swift turn Beastboy changed back into his original form.

"I don't know Cy. They just keep coming," the green boy took a fighting stance as his mechanical friend took down one more slade-bot with his canon.

"Come on, B! We got to get to the others," he spared him a glance to which Beastboy mutely nodded.

Changing into a grizzly, Beastboy barred his teeth and growled before following Cyborg who sprang into action.

Halting mid-way, Cyborg took it upon himself to shoot down the five robots running towards them, and left the remaining three in the back to the green grizzly.

Like in the many shooting video-games he played with Beastboy (and beat him at it), Cyborg confidently took down three robots one by one. Aiming at the other two he suddenly staggered back a few steps when four mechanical arms grabbed onto his shoulders from behind.

"Hey!" Regaining his balance he grabbed the robot on his left shoulder and threw him off. The robot safely landed in a crouch before charging back at him with the another one which he failed to shoot down.

A short brawl followed as the robot kept trying to jump on him and Cyborg refused to go down that easily. He kept throwing them off but they would either kept holding on or would land safely after being jerked off and then they would charge at the metal teen once more.

Feeling anger surging through his circuitry, he grabbed them one by one and hurled them off him like a wild animal.

"Auuugghhh! GET OFF!" springing out his sonic-canon he shot at them with more force than he usually used.

Still holding his transformed arm, he took a few quick breaths to calm himself and stared at the electricity sparkles of the three broken mechanic bodies.

'_Wait, three?_'

"CY! Look out!"

CLANK!

His human eye widened as a surge of energy wracked through his mechanic body and he cried out.

Energy suddenly failing. The light blue color on his mechanical parts dimming. He fell to his knees as the heavy weight of his upper-body part pulled him down to the ground with a loud 'thud!'. The slade-bot behind him lowered its hand and stared at the sparkling round mechanism he attached to the half-man's back.

* * *

The green grizzly violently tackled one robot who tried to shoot him while the other two staggered back. Burrowing his sharp claws onto the side of the wiggling robot he brought his furry head down and enclosed his sharp teeth around its neck before jerking it upwards. The robot stood still for a second with its arm outstretched before it fell limp to the side and Beastboy returned to his original form.

"Auuugghhh! GET OFF!"

Upon hearing his friend's cry Beastboy forgot about the two still functioning robots in front of him and spun around to check up on his mechanic friend.

As soon as his green eyes took in the robot sneaking up on him he gasped.

"CY! Look out!" he reached out too late. His friend arched his back with a cry as waves of electricity washed over him.

Thuuuuump!

"Ahhh!" Beastboy arched his back with his hands automatically going to his behind when something felt like it bit him there.

Spinning around he glared at the two robots behind him of which one had his arm bailed into a fist and aimed at him.

"Dude! What the…!"

His vision begun to dance around as colors mingled with each other.

"… hell…"

His eyelid slowly dropped even though he struggled to keep them open, before falling to his knees and letting his head hit the ground.

* * *

CLANK!

"Aggghhhhh!" the boy cried out and launched himself forward.

CLANK!

The metal staffs met with each other at a frightening speed again and again. As a hit met a block and vice versa, the boy grew frustrated with his opponent. Taking a step back he successfully pushed away Slade when their staffs connected in a battle of strength. Not wasting a moment he charged at the older man again and brought down his bo-staff which Slade evaded by jumping high into the air and landing on the tip of Robin's weapon, disabling it. Expecting Slade to use the opportunity to his advantage, Robin raised the free end of the staff and used it to flip over the masked man, dodging his attempt to strike him.

No sooner had his feet touched the hard-wooden turf than he leaped at Slade with another attempt to attack him. Much to his disappointment the man spun around just in time and blocked his attack starting another game of 'who's-stronger' with their staffs.

"Whatever you want Slade…" the boy managed to growl out through grinded teeth after a few seconds "… you're not getting it!"

"Ohhh? Is that so Robin?" the man slightly inclined his head to the side as the snarl on the boy's face grew.

"I'd rather _die_ than follow anything you have up your sleeve," the boy spat out bitterly using more strength to push at his opponent.

An amused snicker left the two-toned masked man, who didn't even budge from his position despite the boy's efforts.

Leaning closer to the masked teen he couldn't help but victoriously smirk under his mask at the boy's wrong conclusions.

"Quite admirable Robin…"

But, he lost his interest in the boy as soon as he discovered another bird.

"… but it's not always about you."

Robin's eyes widened as Slade pulled back and side-stepped him, leaving him to stumble forwards a few steps towards the edge of their fighting turf. Stopping himself just in time, Robin whirled around and raised his staff above his head to block the incoming attack from his enemy.

As soon as the staffs made contact, Robin glanced at Slade only to see the man's foot connect with his jaws. Pain washed over him as he was sent flying backwards and plummeted onto the crates bellow, which broke with a loud crash upon impact.

He groaned slowly as he opened heavy eye-lids. Black dots rapidly grew in his line of vision when colors begun to mix together. The pain that washed all over him from his backside didn't help.

Using the last of his strength for a rather fruitless attempt of pushing himself up, Robin locked gazes with the towering figure staring down at him. The last thing he was aware of, before darkness overflowed him, was one single dark eye and a long chuckle with an endless echo.

And then… nothing.

* * *

**A/N Okay, so if anyone has some criticism on my writing or thinks that the characters are acting OOC (I hope they don't O.O) please share it with me so I would know and not ruin the story in the near by future. I'd really appreciate it if you guys shared your opinions with me on your favorite scenes, lines, etc. and review because I think I DAMN DESERVED IT! Fourteen pages people! I repeat fourteen pages!**

**So reward me either with a review or a tap on the head (they make me feel happy). ^^**

**I blow you a kiss!**


	5. The Chase

**The full moon shone high above the eery cemetery, covering the cold tombstones in white gold. All was quiet as fog weaved itself around the ground like creepers. **

**And in the silence of the night, a lone grave stood perched on top of a hill near a wilted tree.**

**Frosty wind plucked the last few dried-up leaves and swirled them around before gently setting them on the soft ground beneath the tombstone.**

**Suddenly a light tremor shook the leaves. **

**And as another gust of wind blew the grave shivered more and more! **

**KARAKA-BOOM!**

**Lighting roared in the distance!**

**A hand broke from the ground, clutching for life! Grasping the ground and digging till another hand came up!**

**A figure pulled itself up. Hunched on its slightly bent knees, shivering at the feel of the wind that was wildly blowing, at the feel of standing again. And with all it's sudden power, in synchrony with thunder and lightning, it threw its head back and roared!**

"**I'M ALIIIIIVE!"**

… **Phew! (shoulders sag in relief) Man that was nasty! Why hello there my dear readers! (dusts herself off) I cannot begin to apologize enough for not up-dating for so long. I've been diagnosed with a terrible case of a most gruesome disease called... 'Writer's Block'! (Dun dun duuuuun) What a barbaric thing! O.O**

**The doctors thought I wouldn't make it! Ha-ha joke's on them! I am pretty much alive and kicking! ^-^**

**Besides that horrible, horrible, disease, a hundred of other things seemed to have jumped on me this few agonizing months. My pc broke down (TWICE!), my cousin came to visit and the stayed longer than she should have (simply lovely -_-) and people just kept pestering me beyond belief! The nerve of them!**

**So not gonna ramble on much longer, I'd like to thank all who read my story, reviewed, added me to their story alerts and faves! You all helped me get better! ^o^ Now let's answer a few reviews and get this show on the road!**

**First, 'thank-you's go to: Booyah, kruk, animalllover, superheat123, Witts-End, LanaLuff, Chimei-can, invaderlye and raven lynn morrigan for adding me or reviewing my story! ^-^**

**Booyah: Haha I'm glad you liked it! I have to admit that I loved writing that scene! It seemed to flow right from my head into my keyboard. I enjoyed writing it tremendously! ^-^**

**kruk: Wow, thanks for a lengthy review! Just how I like them! ;D As to answer your question: yes, Slade still has the same past as he does in the comic. I don't plan on changing anything since this takes place after the fifth season. And as for the plot, not an apprentice story and not a rape one either. In my opinion there are simply too many stories like that and I find that a bit close-minded... and gross. Like everything that includes Raven and Slade has to come down to either rape or her being his apprentice. Pft! Lame -.- Anyway thanks for the review! I promise a MUCH better plot than what you expect ;)**

**animalllover: Mwahahaha! I am worse than evil! I. Am. THE AUTHOR! **

**superheat123: Awwwwww :3 I feel all warm and fuzzy inside! Thank you so much for gracing me with such a compliment! It means a lot! ^-^ I'll try to out-do myself and prove that I am worthy of such praises! Thanks! :)**

**Witts-End: While I agree that I could work on my description of the settings, I do have to point out that when writing suspense, actions of a character and their feelings tend to be slightly more important than the setting. But you do have a valid point and I'll try to improve that :) Thanks for the review and the opinions! **

**And finally, what you all have been waiting for! I give you the forth chapter of 'The Games We Play'! Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Chase**

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

Two giant crates enclosed in dark magic slammed against the warehouse wall, squishing the robots that found themselves in between them like mere bugs. Violet orbs kept darting left and right, trying to take in the current number of her enemies.

Left- four of them, right– three more, above– two aiming at her, behind her– she wasn't sure, in front– … well those wouldn't be bothering her anymore.

Spinning around she raised one of her hands and formed a black shield to protect herself against the rain of lasers from above, while she darted out the other hand with a quick jerk. Following her hand's movement the crates were sent flying in the direction they came from and knocked down the group of robots behind her.

The firing from above persisted and she was forced a step back. Her eyebrows knitted into a frown as her shield began to crack. Another step back, and her back was against the wall.

The slade-bots on the sides began to gang up and slowly close the distance between them. Taking quick note of that, a tide-like circle formed around Raven's feet on the ground and in a swift motion…. She was gone.

The two robots hanging by chain lines from above stopped their fire and merely stared at the spot the girl had once stood on. Their heads slightly moved to the sides, their mechanical eyes taking in nothing but their own group on the ground searching for the target.

The robot on the left felt a slight jerk of the chain from which he was hanging from. He lifted up his head, his arm with the laser-gun followed suit, but before he could fire his weapon a foot slammed down on his head from above. Releasing his grip on the chain the robot plummeted to the ground, cracking its mechanical skull upon impact with the hard ground. The whole motion earned the girl who slid down the chain immediate attention.

Quickly pointing his gun to the girl beside him, the other robot was momentarily stunned when she knocked it away with her foot. Reaching out to grab her, she ducked from his grasp before using him as leverage with her feet to push herself away and steady herself in flight.

Leaving the unarmed robot to dangle uselessly, she noticed that the group of slade-bots bellow her was climbing up to her level by any leverage they could find.

"How many of them are there?" she mumbled to no one in particular before both of her hands started to glow in a dark aura. Outstretching both of her arms, a thick long beam of energy shot out towards a high stack of crates, bringing it tumbling down with the robots which tried to climb it.

_Thuuuuump!_

The girl jerked out of the way as something ripped a piece of her hood. Spinning around her eyes locked onto the robot hanging by the metal bridge with one arm while the other one was bailed into a fist and aimed at her.

She gridded her teeth, her eyes flashed white and she reached out, enclosing the robot in her black magic and hurling him into the still dust-clouded pile of broken parts.

Raven levitated in place a few seconds and stared at the robots bellow her when something suddenly slammed at her side. She couldn't even register what happened as she tumbled harshly against the solid ground, thus landing on her stomach and hitting her head.

The ice-cold cement pinched at her cheek, forbidding the current of darkness behind closed eyelids to take her. Bit by bit her body awoke, remembering the sting of the ripped skin, a token of the battlefield, and the section above her temple stained with crimson.

Grinding her teeth once more she resisted the alluring current and slightly opened her eyes. She wouldn't submit to such urges created by pain. She had a battle to finish, teammates to work with, friends to protect, an enemy to defeat. A _very_ dangerous enemy to defeat.

With both hands on the ground, shaky elbows tried to steady themselves and help the girl to rise.

She wasn't weak.

She was anything but weak.

She had defeated her demons, she had overcome her nightmares. And she would be _**damned**_ if after all that she'd let herself be taken down by minions of a man who had once been a minion himself, _**a slave**_ to the demon _**she had defeated**_.

Half-way up, she fully awakened, dismissing the dark tides of unconsciousness. Shakily, Raven leaned on both of her hands and knees only to be slammed right back down onto the ground.

She tried to roll to the side but all attempts to even shift were proven useless when the opponent on top of her snatched her arms and twisted them behind her back. She hissed. Pain crawled along her arms and shoulders, making every attempt she made of even moving an inch more hurtful.

Turning her head to see her assailant, angry purple eyes locked onto another black mask with an orange circle in the middle.

"Azarath Metri- AH!" she arched her back as the robots grip tightened. The pressure of the movement itself proved agonizing.

No, she would not submit. She was Raven.

A flick of energy kindled within her.

Eyes opened and teeth gritted in defiance, she shifted once more. Another agonizing and fruitless attempt.

From the corner of her eyes she could see a swarm of slade-bots caging her in.

She _**would not**_ submit.

The energy blazed only to be reduced to a candle fire.

"Azarath Metr-AH!" she cried out, her arms twitching in hot-white pain.

They were closing in on her.

She would not lose!

Again!

The flame grew once more.

"Azarath Metrion Zinth-AHHH!"

If felt as if someone was clawing into her arm muscles, slowly digging their way through her flesh and blood with their sharp claws.

They were closer.

Panic fluttered in her chest. A bird trashing in its cage.

The energy slowly enclosed on itself… little by little.

She would not lose!

More pain, but she refused to cry out.

Not to them.

A spark remained… patiently waiting for the climax. "Azarath…" she hissed out.

And more importantly…

"**Mentrion**…"

**Not** to **him**.

"_**ZINTHOS!**_"

It exploded. The energy she harvested and kindled into a small bubble, overfilling it and adding more pressure to it till it popped.

It came so fast, a tide of black that exploded in all directions, swallowing the metal soldiers before discarding them uselessly all around the battlefield like mere rag-dolls. They slammed into anything that got in their way and even beyond.

And then silence…

Her breaths echoed as aching arms finally pushed her up. Slowly standing up she caressed the still sore upper-part of her other arm with one hand.

Raven scanned her surrounding and came to the conclusion that the warehouse's owner was going to be anything but happy. She stood in the center of a small dent. The area around her was clean within three meters of radius and there…

Broken parts scattered around like pieces of a puzzle- Splinters of wood trashed upon each other in unnatural angles- Piles of metallic legs and arms- Thin bluish lines of dust-

Sharp colors -

Greasy smoke -

The smell of salt -

. . .

**Silence.**

She went completely still.

'…_what?_'

Frantic eyes kept darting around.

A beat -

'_Wrong…_'

Limp mechanical bodies -

'_So wrong!_'

Static noise mocking her -

"Cyborg…?" she called out.

Dark colors clouding her sight -

"Starfire?" she raised her voice.

It echoed -

"Robin?"

No answer -

"Beastboy?"

. . .

Nothing.

Something in the background faintly exploded, courtesy of her weakened control.

She took a shaky breath, '_Calm down, just calm down…_'

She scanned her surrounding once more. The silence was freakishly deafening.

As her uncertainty grew, her trembling hands started to sloppily touch for her communicator. Finally, she frantically clenched the object in her hand when -

Her whole being froze.

_Thud…_

Eyes, wide in disbelief, slowly rose at the direction the sound came from. She took a step as she stared at the far away half demolished wall.

Another step. And then another. And another.

Her gut twisted.

'_No…_'

_**Vroooom~!**_

The communicator slipped out of her paralyzed hands.

'_**No!**_'

_**SCREEEECH!**_

She ran.

The drab bleak sky, framed with a crushed wall of the warehouse, swallowed the ravaged scenery of the battlefield.

Two meters -

One -

She darted out of the warehouse and, while her eyes drank in the somberly morning grayness, she chocked on a mouthful of exhausted gasses thrown into her face. Two bright red eyes swayed in synchrony and, with a shaky start, the truck was speeding away, discarding chunks of mortar and splinters into her bewildered eyes.

Realization slapped her out of her stupor. The shot that marked the beginning of the race went off… and she was already late.

A few rushed steps, a spark of black and she was making haste after it.

Another high-pitched 'screech' echoed throughout the street when the truck made a sharp turn.

Barring her teeth she followed it, willing herself to go faster, much faster than this. Each beat of her heart, that she could swear she felt somewhere in her throat, seemed like a second too long as she flew after the vehicle.

A second she couldn't lose.

A slade-bot appeared at the co-drivers window, climbing on it and latching its mechanical claws onto the roof, pulling itself up in a swift motion. At first it staggered a bit, but once it regained its balance the robot pulled out a laser gun and aimed at her.

Eyes widening, she avoided the hot-red beam coming at her. And as if one wasn't enough, another robot peaked out of the co-drivers window shot at her.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthose!"

A nearby mailbox was swallowed in her white-lined dark aura and hurled at the robot on top of the speeding vehicle, slamming straight into its head and making him drop the laser gun and tumble along the roof. Before it had a chance to fall off the edge it sank one of its claws deep within the material of the roof and dangled there. It's head lolled under an unnatural angle and the side of its neck sparked with electricity.

The other slade-bot was a persistent one, firing one beam after another. It made dodging them all the more frustrating because she kept falling behind just as she got closer to the truck. Taking offense didn't work: each time she fired small aura-spheres the robot would just pull back into the vehicle and wait for another opportunity to take a shot at her.

Beads of sweat gathered on her brow, the air seemed hot, **suffocating**.

'_Don't lose them! __**Damn it, don't lose them!**_'

And as if on cue, the robot that was dangling in front of the truck lost its grip when the truck made another sharp turn. Falling to the ground, it was caught in a chaotic tango with one of the truck's tires. The rough mingling left the robot without a limb or two, to lay in a cloud of sparks and to wiggle uselessly like a fish out of water.

However, the truck was not so fortunate.

A blatant 'pop' followed when the robot's pointed mechanical claw accidentally plunged into the front tire's hot rubber. Heart-stopping screeching ringed in her ears and just like in some bad dream she watched the truck wobble left and right out of control, seconds before the inevitable crash.

An invisible hand griped her chest painfully, cutting off her air. She knew this feeling. And in an instant, like on an instinct, every thought she had melded into a single one that controlled both her mind and body.

'_**STOP THEM!**_'

Bleach white color burned her irises, consuming her eyes in heated white flames.

"**Azarath Metrion ZINTHOSE!**"

She outstretched her hand. Darkness enveloped the truck's surface just as it dangerously leaned to the side.

Too late -

The truck roughly connected with the mortar road, thus creating a rain of blinding sparks and letting out an ear-shattering noise akin to a scream. Her fingers twitched uncontrollably as pain crawled up her body. The truck, even though it was on its side and harshly sliding on the ground, didn't seem to slow down.

The screeching continued, never lessening its high ear-bleeding pitch. The truck flipped from its side and continued sliding upside-down towards the far end of the street. Heading straight towards a building and pulling her with it.

Clenching her hands and concentrating on the task at hand, Raven could feel her head about to explode. Her muscles tensed up to the point of snapping. Her whole body screamed at her in unison, eyes dazed, but she couldn't let go, and it _hurt_, **God**, it hurt _**so damn much**_!

Closer - !

'_NO!_'

Head spinning from noise and pain -

_**- !**_

Too close!

Sparks dancing -

Closer - !

'_**STOP!**_'

…

It stopped.

...

The dark aura disappeared from the truck and her arms fell limply to the side. The next thing she knew her head hit the hard ground.

…

Never in her life had her lungs demanded so much air: taking gallons of oxygen in, yet not releasing enough carbon-dioxide from how greedily she kept breathing in.

She lay there, body in a blissful state of abating. Eyes half-closed and threatening to fall down even further.

'… _come on..._' with a tired groan she told herself, '..._get up..._'

No sooner had she tried to push herself up than she realized how much of a strain had her mind and body had been through. Raven hissed in blinding pain as her whole body seemed to protest to move.

'_Come on...! Move!_'

Wobbly legs threatened to fall and arms sloppily reached for anything to steady themselves. Trying to reach the upside-down truck centimetres away from the building. From one light-pole to the parking-meter, to another light-pole, she staggered like a drunk person would.

Without warning her legs gave out. Flinging her arms out she clung to the light-pole for support.

As she leaned her damp cheek against the cool metal surface of one pole, she couldn't help but find it strangely comforting. It felt so good against her burning skin. Heavenly even. For a moment she actually considered passing out right then and there.

She closed her eyes. "Come on, Raven..." she whispered slowly between breaths. "Get a grip..."

'_Leave it to Slade to give you a good chase at four in the morning,_' she though bitterly.

Tiredly pulling herself back on her feet, she took a few shaky steps before managing to steady herself long enough to reach the truck. Legs still not functioning like they should have, she tripped over her own foot and grabbed the lift on the lock on the truck's double doors for support.

'_For the love of..._' annoyance itched her as she once again found herself leaning on another cool metal surface. '_Robin better give me a week off after this._'

"Hey..." she managed to voice out between heavy breaths "... everyone okay?"

She faintly heard something shift inside.

'_Oh God_' , she stood back up on her feet '_Please, please, don't let someone be hurt..._'

A few more breaths before she raised her head and stared at the heavy lift she was holding on.

"Hold on, I'm gonna get you out... Just... give me a sec..."

Taking a quick glance behind her, she scanned the black-scraped and damaged street for any unwelcome faces or robotic minions. She found none.

A sigh of relief escaped her and she turned back to the matter at hand.

'_Okay, on three..._'

Small hands gripped the edge of the lift.

"One..." a deep breath.

"Two..." she closed her eyes.

"Three!" gathering all the strength she had left in her exhausted body she pushed the heavy lift up with all she had. It didn't budge.

'_Come on!_' she screwed shut her eyes and pushed harder, grinding her teeth.

For a second she thought she heard her teeth crack from pressure. But as soon as she felt her hands move a bit she realized that it was the lift.

'_Come on! Just a little more!_'

CLANG!

It jolted up and Raven took a step back to compose herself...

"Thank God... Finally..." she mumbled under her breath.

Grabbing the double doors she slowly pulled them open.

"Okay," she looked up, "Is anyone-?"

Her eyes widening-

A glimpse of silver-

A red flash-

Her head hit something hard. And the next thing she knew...

...Darkness overtook her.

* * *

**Uhhhhhhhhh a cliffy! Now ain't I a stinker? XD Kukukuku!**

**Well that's it for this chapter! The exciting parts are finally coming closer and I can't wait for them!**

**I'd love to hear your opinions on this chapter and my writing, so please share them with me and I'll try to type-up the next chapter as soon as I can, deal? :) Remember: reviews are music and music inspires! ….. and cures 'Writer's Block' XD**

**I blow you a kiss!**


	6. Won't you play with me?

**The knocking echoed throughout the house, ruining the calm morning atmosphere. A groan. "I'm coming..." **

**The pounding persisted.**

"**Alright, alright. "**

**It didn't stop.**

"**I'M COMING! Jeez!" She angrily threw the covers off of herself and marched to the front door, cursing under her breath, "... stupid... ugh... good for nothin'... you'd think someone died or something-"**

**She smoothed out her messy hair and opened the door,"Yeah?"**

**A man in his late fifties stood there. His shoulders were straight and he was adorned in a black suit. "Good morning, young miss."**

"**Um, hey," she blinked in confusion.**

"**My name is Mr. Gray," he extended his hand and shook hers politely. A ghost of a smile pulled at her lips.**

"**A pleasure to meet you, sir. What can I do for you?"**

"**I'm a mortician and I'm-"**

"**Whoa, whoa, whoa!" she jumped back, retreating her hand with a jerk as if she'd just been burnt, "Okay, listen, if the neighbor's dog died, I swear, I had nothin' to do with it! I didn't touch that thing and I swear that that freaking fuzz-bag had it coming. The whole neighborhood hates it and-!"**

"**Oh, no, no, no! I think you misunderstood," the man pulled his hands up in a calming gesture.**

"**... I did?" (O.o)**

"**Yes, quite. I was actually looking for someone's house," he slightly smiled.**

**Relief washed over her. "Oh, thank goodness", she sighed "I mean, I love animals, seriously, but the little bugger just annoys the hell out of me and all, so-"**

**He pulled out a small piece of paper out of his pocket, "Ummm, do you happen to know where a person called... Miss Fortune, lives by any chance?"**

**Her genius answer was, "... ha?"**

"**Most tragic. She has been unheard of for three months, I believe, and no one could find her or contact her in any way-"**

"**How horrible," she monotoned.**

"**- and I have been asked to inform her family-"**

"**Yeah, yeah, yeah," she waved her hand in dismissal and sighed, "Listen buddy, why don't you just leave that to me and I'll put their minds at ease..."**

**The man blinked, "Oh, you know the deceased one's family?"**

**Her eye twitched in annoyance. "Yeah, you could say that."**

"**Wonderful- ugh, I mean, my sincerest apologies."**

"**No sweat... (jerk -.-)"**

"**Um, may I ask how you plan to tell them the news? I'm sure it'll be quite-"**

"**Hey, it's no bother," she yawned. **

"**Oh?" he blinked again.**

"**Yeah, all I gotta do is walk back to the kitchen and proclaim myself dead..."**

**The man stood bewildered as the door closed in front of him.**

* * *

**I know, I know! My up-dating skills are those of a llama. And seeing how llamas don't even have hands to write, well, that in itself should say something about how horrible they are. I know I took forever to write this chapter, but I started working on a RedX/Raven one-shot and kinda got carried away with it. So after I realized how long it has been since I updated I put it on halt and started writing this. I promise you won't be disappointed with this chapter! …... I hope. ('O.O) I do have to warn you about the lack of action in it... like, there isn't any at all. XD BUT the ball gets rolling from here! **

**Cookies and 'Thank you's go to: superheat123, fallfromreality, Booyah, GinsengH, darkflare75, Mysterious anonymous reviewer, Lynessence, LaLaLand, animalllover, nephertiri, Ignite the Airwaves, Ijustdonthaveanaccount and Frenetique** **for reviewing or adding me to their faves or alerts.**

**Booyah: Dull moment? *tilts head to the side* What is this 'dull moment' you speak of? Hahaha, thank you my friend for such kind words. ^^ I truly appreciate them. You won't be disappointed with the story, I promise you.**

**Mysterious anonymous reviewer: Okay, I know who you are (-.-) and you know that I know who you are. When I read the name you used, Idk why but I felt like punching you... which I did. xD Mostly because I had the feeling you were making fun of me. Hehehehehe, yeah, sorry about that. '^-^ But then I read it and thank you. Your review was lengthy (just how I like them ;D) and it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. So thank you, thank you very much. ^^**

**LaLaLand: It is? Ugh, I mean, of course it is! Lol, just joking around ^^ Thank you for reading my other work, I am grateful beyond belief ^_^ I hope I just haven't lost your interest with my lousy up-dating skills. xD**

**IMPORTANT: From now on I will only answer to anonymous reviews like this before chapters. Mostly because I already answer those of people who already have accounts and don't see a reason to type them up twice. =/**

**So now ladies and gentleman, things and creatures, I present to you the fifth chapter of 'The Games We Play'.  
**

* * *

_"Let the fun and games begin  
She is vain and broken in  
Skin is cold and white  
Such a lovely lonely night"_

**Breaking****Benjamin****"Breakdown"**

**Chapter 5: Won´t you play with me?**

Something was ringing. **That** he was sure of.

. . .

No, it wasn't really ringing. More like... what was the word again?

. . .

It was like... like when you dive into water and go deeper than you should've, so your ears kinda clog up.

. . .

That long note that never wanders off its monotony.

. . .

That ceaseless irritating buzzing that becomes hurtful at some point.

. . .

Buzzing! Yes! That´s what it was!

. . .

...Buzzing...

. . .

… and it was annoying **the hell** out of him.

The next thing he took notice of was how cold it was. His cheek kissed the chilling flat surface, his aching chest following its suit as well. His eyes refused to open. The darkness behind them was comforting for his throbbing skull.

_"It's been quite some time, hasn't it?"_

Time.

He was wasting it, an inner paranoia warned him. On what? He didn't know. He couldn't remember. It was all too foggy. But it was there, obvious and irritating like a ticking clock on a sleepless night-

* * *

_-red lights flashing. Colors blurring. Wind. Cold. Noise. Noise. So much noise-_

* * *

. . .

'_What just happened?_'

A silent groan escaped him once he tried to lift his head. It seemed to weight a ton and the unexpected increase in that nagging buzzing didn't help.

One hand on one side, second on the other. **Push**. Dizzy, _dizzy_. More buzzing. (_It hurts_). He fell down.

_"Oh, come now, Robin."_

(Arms? Knees? Spine?)

A moan.

(Right ankle? Elbow? Rib cage?)

'_No time. Get up._'

* * *

_Silence. More dark. Left- Right- Follow the path. A figure looking down. Jump- Move-! _

_Do something-!_

* * *

His whole body refused to cooperate. Weary and beat-up muscles tempted his mind to stay in its lethargy state.

Moving hurt too damn much.

'_Concentrate._'

Once more. Arms pushing, muscles screaming, he pulled up his knees till he was on all fours and shaking off the last drops of unconsciousness. Finally rid of the buzzing in his ears, he took a breath of satisfaction at the small victory over his own body. The boy steadied himself on his shaky legs after almost another collision to the ground. And just as he straightened himself up he noticed the heavy drapes of darkness all around him.

* * *

_An eye following his movements. _

_Duck- _

_Punch- _

_Evade- _

_Swing-_

_Kick-_

_Air whizzing past him._

_Falling. Falling._

_The eye watching... just watching him._

* * *

He froze.

"_I would have expected a much warmer welcome from an old acquaintance."_

. . .

…. Fuck.

His arms snapped up into a fighting stance. His heart was beating franticly against his ribs. Adrenaline (_or was it fear?) _rushed through his veins. The alarm bells in his head deafened him as he spun round and round, desperately searching the darkness to find... nothing.

. . .

He stopped.

Nothing?

The boy's eyebrows knitted into a frown as silence and darkness snickered back at him.

No, there couldn't be **nothing**.

There was always a catch. Always a lead. A hint. There would always be **something** that was supposed to lead him to his abductor. That's how he always did it. Leave the mouse to find his own way to the cat, and the cat will patiently wait for it's playmate to appear, simply because it has no other choice. It _has_ **no other way** to go. And Slade always found a sadistic pleasure in setting up that scenario.

The sick bastard.

So the question was: what was it that he wanted him to find?

He let his arms drop to the side, but kept his guard up as he scanned the inky blackness once more.

'_Too dark_,' masked eyes narrowed. He reached for a compartment on his utility belt only to touch his own waist. A scowl immediately twisted his lips.

"Shit."

No utility belt, meaning no emergency light. Meaning he's stuck here (wherever here was?) in total darkness, with no gadgets, no team and at the mercy of-

Something shifted.

. . .

His eyes narrowed.

. . .

Someone was here.

Robin slowed down his breathing tempo. His hands were detached from his side, tingling with anxiety.

Slower...

His eyes fell closed, as they were of no use to him in this dark.

Slower...

'_Concentrate... Listen..._'

Slower...

'_Follow your instinct..._'

A hand on his shoulder-

Eyes snapped open-

He spun around-

BAM!

"AH!"

The assailant stumbled back. "OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH-"

The masked boy was oblivious to the pained cries of his attacker and just leaped at him. His outstretched fist connected with the assailant's chest (_he thought?_), stealing his breath. He launched his other hand, which was sloppily side-stepped with a girlish 'eeek!' ('_probably female_', he thought) and he thrust out his leg, tripping the person in the process who fell backwards with a blunt 'thud'.

A groan could be heard and a bit shifting (_probably leaning on his elbows_) as Robin took an obvious step closer to gain his enemy's attention. He could almost _see_ the person's head snapping up with a panicked expression.

"Okay, okay, I give! I give!"

. . .

Wait-

He stopped.

That voice-?

"... Beastboy?"

. . .

"Robin...?"

Well... crap.

* * *

It was mocking her, she decided.

A single thin streak of neon white that wiggled under, what she presumed was, a door. It was taunting her.

('_Take a step.'_)

She gazed down at it. Her eyes narrowed slightly, converting her once blank face into a calculating one.

She woke up in a tenebrous room. Yes, it, in fact, was a room, with one bed (she had woken up in) and a bedside table (she had bumped into) near it. Other than that, she came in contact with no other furniture. The first (and the only) thing she saw when she stood up was that little white line on the floor which set of a flow of memories.

The ground that screamed in agony as the truck gridded against it, leaving black hot smudges on it that looked strangely like blood. Then the pain, God, **the pain**, followed by the hazy dream-like state as she wobbled to the truck, opening the double doors and looking up at a black mask with an orange spot in its middle. The shock, the beam that blew her away, the black-dotted sky that grew darker and darker until there was nothing left.

And so Raven just stood there. Her eyes were glued to that single illuminated border, running different scenarios in her head. Following all the possible strings of logic related to this situation, because this wasn't right. It just wasn't.

He deliberately separated her from the Titans. Correction. He deliberately separated _the Titans_ from _her_. He specifically wanted her to follow his little decoy. But what for? Slade had no business with her. Their little saga was concluded once she became the portal and he was forced to travel down the pits of hell for his scorched flesh and brittle mortality. She was of no use to him in any way now.

But then again, her current predicament said otherwise.

Her eyes snapped up to the flat surface in front of her.

('_Cross it,_' it breathed in her ear, '_You know you will._')

Anger crawled up her skin.

Where were the Titans? Slade got them before her, that was a fact. Was he gonna blackmail her with their lives? Or vice versa. Blackmail them with hers?

She almost scowled then.

He was most certainly nefarious enough for that. He did it before and he certainly wouldn't think twice about doing it again.

Again, **why**?

Robin has always been on the receiving end of that man's focused attention, why change it to her now? He knew he couldn't corrupt her in any way, oh he knew. A barbaric and bloodthirsty bashing across an eerie chamber that was later her grave, got that point across quite nicely. So apprenticeship was out of the question.

('_There's no other way to go._')

Her nerves jittered. She suppressed a growl as the little white outline mocked her repeatedly.

'_WHAT do you WANT?_'

. . .

Silence. Hushed laughter all around her.

(_'Only one way to find out,' _it snickered_._)

Her eyes burst in a spiteful resolve-

Cold fingers curled around the smooth surface-

She flung the door open-

White blinded her-

And the barrier was crossed.

* * *

An endless template of white circles of light that fell from the above to the floor stretched far along her left and right. Shades of gray melted into darkness along the walls and corners. The algid air left a chilling sensation along her airways.

A path to a morgue. That's what these hallways reminded her of. Empty corridors void of life, of sound and color. Simply dead, just like where they led her to. A society of corpses. Her boldness wavered for a moment with uncertainty. Raven slightly shook her head to will away the pictures her mind conjured up. She took a slow breath and reached for her com-

She froze.

. . .

'_What-?_'

As if on cue her mind backtracked to the fight. The scene played out in flashes in her head. Her staring bemused at the hole in the wall. The communicator slipping out of her frozen hands and left forgotten in a pile of rubble. And her running, running away from it.

Raven would have scowled at her own idiocy for dropping her communicator if she wasn't stupefied by another frightening fact in the next second.

A shackle was enclosed around her wrist.

Cautiously, she raised her right hand and inspected it. It was two inches long, thick and a bit heavy. Its design was simple. The surface was a dark gray color and it was unbelievably smooth. She couldn't find an outline of the lock till her fingers accidentally brushed against it. The feeling was so faint under her fingers, almost nonexistent, that it took her a while to actually realize she found it. And beside it, imprinted in the material of the shackle, was a tiny red light-bulb.

Her eye narrowed.

This was no common technology equipment. No, it was too well-crafted. She could tell. All those hours spent with Cyborg in the garage weren't spent uselessly. This... _thing_, was specially designed.

'_Why,_' she thought dryly, '_so much trouble for little 'ole me? I'm blushing._'

She wrinkled her nose. '_How the hell didn't I notice it before?_'. A few seconds later she decided not to ponder about it, as she had bigger things to worry about.

Letting her hand drop to the side, Raven glanced between the two seemingly identical corridors. A short debate commenced.

Left or right?

The answer was a simple one.

'_Does it matter?_'

No. No, it didn't.

Their encounter was inevitable. Whether she took left or right, somehow, she would see him. Somehow she would come to him. And he?

He would be waiting.

She took the left one.

* * *

"DUDE!", the green boy jumped to his feet, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Robin's hands snapped up into a peaceful gesture, "Shit! Sorry, I didn't know it was you! I swear I wouldn't have-"

"-beaten the crap out of me? Gee, thanks, oh fearless leader."

The guilt melted away in a millisecond and Robin growled, "_You_ sneaked up on me..."

A hiss escaped the younger boy as he touched the sore skin just bellow his eye, "And _you_ gave **me** a black eye."

"Then we're even." He dropped his hands to the side, "Have you seen the others?"

"Dude, I haven't _seen_ anything in this dark," the changeling dusted himself off, "I was just playing possum till I heard something. Then I decided to check it out since the sense I picked up was familiar."

"You couldn't tell it was me?" Robin raised an eyebrow. Not that the other teen could see.

"Attempt at murder was definitely not my first clue," he muttered under his chin..

The silence that followed pointed out that he was obviously heard and probably glared at.

Beastboy sighed. "My senses are not that heightened when I'm in not in a particular animal form. Like this they're pretty good at noticing things, but not that good at distinguishing* them," he shrugged.

"Hmmm," the other boy stared into the darkness. His whole being whispered to him that something was off.

"_Ohhh? Is that so Robin?"_

* * *

_A crate falling._

_Slade dodging to the side._

_**Pain-**_

* * *

It struck him like a lighting, splitting his head in two and making him slightly bend over. His skull was painfully pulsing. He grabbed the side of his forehead and hissed through gridded teeth in pain.

"Hey? You okay?"

A gloved hand was resting on his shoulder.

"Yeah," he swallowed his saliva and slowly opened his screwed shut eyes. "I'm fine."

"You sure?" Beastboy's eyebrows slightly dropped in worry.

'_No,_' but he ignored the pain and forced himself to stand up straight.

"Yeah," he took a deep breath and stepped away from him, "I'm sure."

The changeling didn't believe him. He wasn't as stupid as most people thought he was. Beastboy knew certain people hated showing weakness. Robin was certainly one of them. He was stubborn as hell and pushing the issue further would have only angered him. So he left it alone. Because he was his friend... and because he didn't know anything he could say that would change its outcome. Yeah. That was the only thing he could do. Just leave it alone.

"... Okay," uncertainty colored his voice. Robin took it with a small nod, still starring off into the darkness.

"Can you sense the others?"

An unsettling silence between the two. A sigh. "Yeah, I think so."

* * *

The soles of her footwear softly tapped along the dark corridor. After an extended period of time of just walking, Raven noticed that the lights further along her path were off. She stopped in her tracks.

A light breeze embraced her from the murky darkness.

She was getting closer.

Uneasiness wove itself in her chest. She resisted the urge to fist the material of her cloak as an act of reassurance.

Each step she took she felt like she was being observed by him.

She could swear he was there in the dark, right in front of her now, just watching her with that cold hypnotic eye; that each movement, each breath she made, would reveal a part of her soul and inner thoughts that he hadn't known of earlier. And he'd see it. He'd understand it. He'd exploit it. And she wouldn't know how to counter.

She clenched her fists and glared at the shadows. Even if he was watching her, she would not allow him the pleasure of seeing her fidget over nothing.

She was not afraid. But _just_ in case he was there...

Purple irises faded away behind a wall of white-

The red dot on the shackle glowered in a angry red-

Electricity crackled in the air-

Raven toppled over, screeching in pain.

Her right hand vibrated in murderous pain that spread out through her whole body. It teared under her skin like seething termites that were uncontrollably chewing, cutting and eating her flesh from the inside. And they _wouldn't_ **stop**, _**God**_, _**they WOULDN'T STOP!**_ She lost control of her body. Her legs started jerking and kicking air on impulse. Her other hand grabbed the shackle in a painful attempt to yank it off. Yet she let go of it as soon as the merciless force bit her palm.

They kept chomping, **clawing**, piercing her flesh and muscles, gnawing, _**cleaving**_, _**pulling**_- _**STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! GOD! STOP!**_

. . .

And then it stopped.

Numbness hit her. It prickled the sore skin of her hand with full force. It felt as if she had just pulled her hand out of a blazing fire. Beads of sweat glistered on her still pain-twisted face. Her breathing came in severe irregular gasps, like she had forgotten how to breathe.

Her nails scratched the solid ground as she fought for control over her body. Her muscles just felt so **heavy**, as if she was nothing more than a hunk of meat.

Her whole body shook as she leaned on her untrustworthy arms. A hiss escaped her.

'_Damn him__**.**_'

Saliva gathered under her tongue. Her eyes flickered with crimson.

'_**Damn. HIM!**_'

Red dotted her vision. Her teeth grid together and her fingernails dug themselves into the ground. Dark sparks crackled under her palms.

The red dot flickered again and Raven screamed as electricity washed over her once more.

As soon as the wave came, it ended. Raven remained on all fours and her breathing was labored.

'_Breathe..._' she ordered herself to comply. '_Calm down and breathe... Breathe... Azarath, Metrion, Zinthose..._'

The prolonged time she wasted on regaining her breath seemed irrelevant. Almost non existent to her as she pulled herself up to stand straight and once more glare at the darkness facing her.

That thing was preventing her from using her powers.

'_That son of a-_'

She cut herself off with a quick jerk of her head.

Anger was pointless, the Titans needed her now. She couldn't afford to lose to that red-hooded sicko hiding in the back of her mind. Not now when the situation had just gotten worse. Dread tugged at her chest, and with a deep breath, she covered it up with false bravery.

She continued her path. Raven _was_ **not** afraid.

* * *

She was snuggled in a cocoon of slumber. It was wrapped around her like a silky sheet. Gentle and warm. So welcoming and accepting. Light as a feather and pleasant as the song her K'norfka used to sing to her.

It was... nice. To be in such a blissful state of unawareness was nice.

And it was ripped away when a hand touched her shoulder.

* * *

_Mechanical claws reaching for her. Grabbing, yet missing._

_She's scared. _

_They're lunging for her, so she fights. They're closer to catching her. They want to hurt her. __**He**_ _wants to hurt them._

_She's so scared._

_She __**has to**_ _fight! _

* * *

Green eyes flew open with a startled gasp. She abruptly sat up and started to pull away from the unknown person. Her once peaceful heart painfully raced in a irregular tempo. She could feel the hand reaching for her and once more as it took a hold of her shoulder. Her mouth parted. A scream was building up in her chest when-

"Hey, hey, Star, it's okay! It's me."

She stopped struggling. The scream died away in her throat. The pressure in her chest seemed to slowly evaporate and leave more room in there for air.

"It's okay," he repeated running his hand up and down her arm in a soothing motion, "It's me."

"Robin?" a sigh of relief escaped her,"You startled me." She looked up and could imagine him warmly smiling at her.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you," he took her hand and helped her up. "Are you hurt?"

Starfire shook her head. "No. I am not."

She absentmindedly rubbed the sore spot on the back of her neck while she looked around the dark room. "W-What has transpired?"

. . .

"Slade."

One word, said with so much hostility and loathing, with such justified resentment, was enough to make her flinch. She understood.

Starfire had always thrived to understand humans and their way of life. They were just so complex. They never felt just one thing. They didn't concentrate and try to pin down one emotion. They mixed them. They stirred them together in a cauldron that is the heart and then lost themselves in trying to figure out what they have just made. A new flavor.

And she was in awe. There were just so many. So many she never even tried or knew of. And she wanted to. Once she tried one, she knew right away that _just one_ wouldn't be enough. She 'felt alive', as humans put it (though she still couldn't understand why). It all just felt so different from her home planet.

Time, dates, events, memories and emotions, all of them mixed into an unknown potion.

Compassion. Bliss. Sympathy. Passion. Enthrallment.

Or in some cases... poison.

Spite. Frustration. Bitterness. Jealousy. Rage.

She had a sip of all of them. And then carefully considered which to discard and which to embrace.

But that name... That name was poison itself.

It burned in her mouth so she would remember it well. It painfully tightened her throat so that she couldn't relive any other flavor. It rotted her heart and boiled her blood till she would be driven to madness.

And one day... She feared it just might succeed.

But somehow... Somehow she would always cleans herself of it. Not completely. No, never completely. It would always linger there upon seeing her friends exposed to such a toxin and her being condemned to just watch them helplessly as they struggle against it. As they fight it only to poison themselves even more.

She just felt so **darn** helpless.

She didn't know how to show them. She didn't know how to make them understand. Sometimes she wondered if they were even capable of understanding it. That maybe they just couldn't. But she hoped they would. And that was enough for her to fight off his poison once more.

There were so many flavors out there, and whether they'd be good or bad, she'd taste them. His was not the dominant one. She wouldn't let it be.

She clenched her fist. "Our friends, are they-"

"They're here," Robin cut her off. His voice was even and controlled. She knew right away what was happening behind the wall of apathy. "Beatstboy's looking for them as we-"

"AH!"

CLANG!

Thud!

. . .

A groan. "Found Cyborg," a muffled shout could be heard from the green boy who was sprawled across a pair of metallic legs, with his rear up in the air.

Beastboy pulled himself up and found the metallic man's shoulder. He gave him a small shake.

"Cy. Hey, Cy. Wake up."

Two pairs of feet stopped behind him.

"Is he okay?"

"I don't know," he rubbed the back of his head. "He seems to be off-line."

"Think we can turn him back on?" Robin took a step pass him and crouched at the metal man's side.

Beastboy stepped back to make more room. "Dude, I don't know. I'm not a tech-wiz."

Robin gave Cyborg a small shake before turning his head where he presumed Starfire was standing. "Star, can you give me some light over here?"

"Oh!" she slightly jumped, "Yes, of course."

She took a step closer and spread her palm to make a starbolt.

A garish red eye flared in the darkness.

She cried out in pain. Static crinkled in the air.

"Star!" both teens ran to her side as she fell to her knees.

She hissed in pain when the pain begun to slowly subside. Needles prickled her palm as she held her hurtful hand.

"Star, you okay?"

A light sigh left her lips. "I-I think so..."

"What happened?" Robin frowned.

"I-... I do not know. I was just-" she outstretched her palm again to try once more. Again the dot flickered. She bent over holding her hand and cried out again.

She panted heavily as the pain stopped.

A gloved hand gently took hers. It slowly moved around her palm to her wrist. A tint of pink crept up her cheeks. His fingers stopped upon a material that replaced her gauntlet. His frown deepened and he cursed. "Damn!"

"What is it?" Beastboy stepped closer.

"This thing on her hand is preventing her from using her starbolts."

Starfire slowly pulled back her hand and touched the outline of the material she hadn't noticed earlier. A small confused frown formed on her face.

The cogwheels in Robin's head spun round and round. Just what on Earth was going on here? They weren't supposed to be here. Slade wanted _him_. So why were they here and rendered useless more or less?

A light, nauseating feeling spread through his stomach.

This was bad. This was _very _bad. What was that psychopath playing at now?

Uncomfortable silence wrapped around all of them and Robin could once more hear the buzzing in his ears. His chin dipped in determination. Robin spun on the heels of his footwear and marched back to Cyborg. "Come on. We gotta get Cyborg back on-line."

'_We have to be prepared for anything Slade has up his sleeve._'

* * *

Her footwear clicked against the ground. Their dying echo reiterated in the darkness.

Nothing.

Still nothing. No lights, no sounds, no robots, no Titans and no Slade.

A nagging feeling poked her in the back of her head, telling her that there must be another passageway. Raven dismissed it though. She surely wouldn't have missed it.

Her steps gradually slowed down. And then she stopped.

. . .

'_Dear Azar..._'

What if she actually did miss it? W-What if there was another passageway hidden somewhere in the shadows and she had missed it? Just walked past it and-

Click-clack!

Suddenly she was blinded. The fluorescent light from above burned her eyes so she shielded them.

"How thoughtful of you to join me, Raven..." his voice rang around her. So controlled, so unmistakably smooth. The darkness around her was not so empty anymore. She was trapped in a white circle, exposed and prominent to his eye.

'_Never mind..._' Raven silently growled and lowered her hands. Her eyes narrowed in pure detest. "Slade."

* * *

_Bzzzz..._

. . .

_Bzzzz..._

"Move a little closer," he instructed. The little green firefly complied.

Starfire chewed on her lip as she intensely watched how Robin handled the wires in an open compartment of their friend's back.

_Bzzzz..._

_Bzzzz..._

"Is... Is something as it should not be?" she dared to ask.

_Bzzzz..._

"He's gonna be fine, Star," he said without looking at her and continued working. It did nothing to lessen her concern.

Silence followed. A few moments later he seemed to notice her uneasiness.

"The mechanism I removed from his back was just a simple discharger," he explained, still not looking at her, "It short-circuited the conductors to his energy core-"

_Bzzzz..._

"-so all I gotta do is-"

_Bzzzz..._

"-rewire them again and he should be back on."

"Oh..." she blinked.

He sensed the confusion radiating from her. "Think of it like a restart button- Beastboy stop fidgeting!"

The little firefly seemed to take offense and buzzed around his face in fast aggressive moves before moving back to his previous position. Robin's eyebrows slightly furrowed and without a comment he went back to the task at hand.

_Bzzzz..._

Shiny blue sparks danced in front of his eyes. They were hurtful to look at, their flickering was stinging his already painful head.

Slade had said something. He knows he did. But he... he just couldn't remember. And it was driving him crazy.

He was watching him from above in the ware-house. (_"It's been quite some time, hasn't it?")_

The mocking and taunting was there. (_"Oh, come now, Robin. I would have expected a much warmer welcome from an old acquaintance."_)

The inclination of his head followed. (_"Ohhh? Is that so Robin?"_)

And then- No, wait. No, he had said something before that.

Robin rubbed his pulsing forehead with the heel of his palm. '_Ugh! What did he say?_'

"Robin?" a gentle touch on his shoulder shook him out of his thoughts. He looked up and the red-head alien. "Are you alright?"

He blinked. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine, Star," with a light shake of his head he turned back to rebooting Cyborg. She pulled back, her concern not reaching him as he once more closed himself off from them., rendering his face expressionless.

A sigh escaped her and again silence fell over them.

_Bzzz..._

_Bzzz..._

A sudden 'clank' followed by a mechanical purr made them all lean back. A light blue color began to shimmer inside the globes that were Cyborg's shoulders and then-

"HOLY-!" the mechanical man jerked up to his feet.

"Ah!" Beastboy reverted back to his original form and jumped back in surprise along with Starfire and Robin. Before any of them could figure out what was happening, the trio found themselves face to face with the sonic-canon and a furious red mechanical eye.

"WHO YOU TRYIN' TO SNEak up- on..."

"Oh..."

Starfire and Beastboy stood petrified behind an equally startled Robin.

"Um... h-hey?" the green Titans slowly popped up from behind their leader.

. . .

"Oh, dang!" Cyborg pulled back wide-eyed. His arm returned to its less dangerous state. "Sorry, guys! I didn't mean to scare you like that!"

Beastboy coughed and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "W-Who? Us? _Scared_? Hahaha, good one..."

"Friend, you are undamaged?" Starfire stepped closer to him.

"Yeah. I'm fine. But-" Cyborg flexed his neck before stretching his back, "-**man**, _what_ was **that**?"

"You got KO-ed with this dude," Beastboy bent and picked up the discharger Robin took off and handed it to his metal friend. Cyborg stared blankly at the round metal mechanism. He blinked once. Then twice.

The single dark eye narrowed. "Oh, no he didn't-"

"He did," Robin added.

"Aww man!" the large teen grabbed the side of his head. Robin tuned out then.

His eyes slowly roamed the now dimly lit room (courtesy of Cyborg).

What was he missing? He-

_Slade slowly tilted his head to the side. _

… He-

_A chuckle._

… He- **God**, what did he say?

He **had** to remember. He _just_ **had** too.

_"Quite admirable Robin…"_

Robin's eyes went pass the barely visible corners of the room. He didn't detect anything along the walls. No outlines, no nothing. His gaze paused on his friends who were discussing something before continuing along the room.

_"… but it's not always about you."_

Gloved fingers painfully clenched into a fist.

'_Then __**who**_ _is it __**about?**_' he felt like screaming. '_Who the hell are you exactly targeting you sick-_'

. . .

No air.

He couldn't move.

There was ice in his veins.

"-Rob?"

Cold.

He was lost in the dark.

"_Just looking..."_

"Yo, Robin?"

J-Just so cold.

"_... for my __**favorite**__-"_

"Friend?"

Please, no...

"_-__**little. Bird.**__"_

"Hey, what's wrong?" the whole group stepped closer to him. His back was turned to them.

No response.

"Um, dude-"

A breathless murmur. The words barely audible, yet sharp enough to cut their chests and steal their breaths away.

. . .

"Where's Raven?"

Clank!

* * *

"Where are they?" purple eyes roamed left and right, searching the darkness for him.

"My, my, so much time has passed and yet you hardly seem to have changed," he taunted.

Behind her.

She spun around. Nothing.

He continued, "Still holding a larger value for your friends lives then your own. How undaunted and caring of you."

Raven almost sneered then. "Very perceptive of you to notice. Now answer the question," she spat.

Left? No. Not there.

"I assure you that they are quite safe and that no harm will come to them. For now that it."

He was close.

"How considered of you," she deadpanned.

Right? No, not there either.

"What do you want from us?" Raven glared at the darkness. She could feel his scent all around her, hanging in the air like a dense fog.

"Strange," Slade innocently purred, "I was confident that the little gift I left you would make it quite evident with who I wish to discuss business with, my dear". A sigh. "Guess I was wrong."

He was mocking her. The bastard!

"Oh? And what significant _business_ do **we** exactly have to discuss?" she bit out in a bitter tone.

She could practically _feel_ his aura slithering up her body, gently wrapping around her like a snake preparing to choke its pray. She suppressed a shudder, its smooth surface brushed against her thigh.

A low chuckle. "Well now, I wouldn't call it business. Much too formal for what I had in mind."

Now it crawled around her waist and it tenderly slipped around her stomach. Her breath hitched at the thought of it suddenly tightening its grip.

"Ransom? Blackmail? Extortion?" she clenched her fists and turned around. "Take your pick. I'm sure one of them fits."

**God**, he was _so close_!

"Games."

Raven bit her lip.

It glided up her spine. Slowly. **Agonizing**. Marveling at the way her body tensed and felt so **wonderfully** _breakable _under its muscles.

"A contest, if you will."

She dared to draw in a shaky breath. "I see your eyesight has faltered. When have I ever seemed like a game sort of girl?"

Another chuckle. "You hold a valid point, my dear. Though..."

Little by little it went around her neck. It's grip ever so slightly tightening on her body and, and… _and why was the air so __**damn**_ _hot?_ She couldn't breathe!

"I do hope you have a change of heart."

A soft 'clank'. Mechanical buzzing ringed in the background.

Raven gasped in shock. Hands of steel suddenly seized her shoulders from behind and jerked her to the side. Her hood fell back.

"The prize promises to be-"

The darkness suddenly peeled in front of her eyes. Two walls separated from each other and revealed orange colored glass. And on the other side-

Lips parted.

Her irises waned. Masked ones widened.

Shocked faces stared back at her.

"-_very_... **heartwarming**."

. . .

"So what do you say, little bird?" he purred in her ear.

A beat of her stunned heart.

"Won't you play with me?"

* * *

***I have no idea if that about Beastboy's powers is true, but it sort of made sense to me. =P**

**Oh. My. Friggin'. God! (collapses) **

**I have *pants* NEVER written anything this long in my entire life! You people better not ask me for an update till my brain regenerates. I mean, phew, holy crudge! Twenty two pages! I'm beat! XD**

**I hope all of you enjoyed this VERY long chapter and found it interesting to read. Now, there are a few things I'm still worried about and I was hoping you could answer them for me:**

**Were the characters OOC? Did I portray them and their actions correctly, cuz' I have NO IDEA. O.o' **

**Was it suspenseful enough? **

**Any major overdoing I should be worried about in my writing?**

**Can I have a cookie? :3**

**Was the format of the writing eye-catching? I tried to make it a bit interesting, dunno if I succeeded... =/**

**Did Slade's and Raven's dialogue sound IC?**

**Any particular fave lines/scenes?**

**You know where to click and tell me ;D **

**AND because all of you have been such wonderful readers and reviewers I have decided to grace you all with a little sneak-peak for the next chapter! Woohooo! =D **

**Just before we go there, one little request for all of you anonymous reviewers. Please stick to one name if you choose to write me a few things so I'd know who I was talking to and who wrote what. It would be highly appreciated! ^-^**

* * *

**Sneak-peak: **

"Here are the rules," the man turned away from her and linked his hands together.

* * *

"Be careful," he breathed in her ear, "You might lose more than you can imagine."

* * *

'_Get away! Get away! __**Get away! Get away! GET AWAY!**_'

* * *

"Damn it!" the edge of the boy's hand collided with the gamboge colored glass. "We have do something!"

* * *

Her limbs went cold. There was **nothing**. Only air tickled her sweaty palm.

Quivering lips parted-

. . .

'_I'm going to die...'_

* * *

"No!"

"RAVEN!"

* * *

The skin on her neck tingled with an insane urge to shudder.

"Do you understand?"

. . .

"Yes."

**Chapter 6: Reversed Tag**


	7. Reversed Tag part 1

**A redheaded girl took long calm steps as she entered a room full of strangers adorned in either black or some other sullen and dark color. After taking a deep breath to calm her nerves she took a good look at her surroundings. The room was buzzing with people from all sorts of fandoms on the , yet the center, where a dead girl was visibly lying in her casket, was avoided like a plague. Most gathered in small groups and chatted or reminisced about some show that they loved. Some people though, she noticed, were actually here playing the roles they were supposed to make this look like what it was meant to be. A funeral.**

**Booyah blew into a handkerchief for the third time before crying out to the heavens ("Why? Oh, why? S-She was so young! A-And she- …... Do I smell bagels?"), while Lynessence was being desperately hugged by the ever-so-emotional animalllover. ("A-And I *hic* I never got to see h-how it- *hic* how it _ended_!". An awkward tapping on the head followed. "Um, there, there? Listen, I'm sorry, sweety, but-". "I-Its okay," a tear was wiped away "W-Why *hic* are you apologizing anyway? It isn't y-your fault." Lynessence offered a gentle smile. "No, that's not what I meant. What I meant to say was: I'm sorry, but... who are you? Seriously." …...Awkwardness ensued.). **

**Superheat 123 couldn't bear watching the scene anymore for the fear of awkwardness being contagious, thus the attention was directed back to the group conversation. ("I say it was murder," a grim look crossed kruk's face. Nephertiri couldn't help but give 'the look'. "What are you talking about?" "Think about it!" All eyes were on kruk. "I mean why on Earth are all good writers suddenly disappearing? I think it's a conspiracy against the !" Gingerstorm101 gasped, "So... She was killed?" kruk gave an all-knowing nod while LaLaLand shushed all of them. "It's a funeral for God's sake people and you wanna turn this into 'Midsummer Murders'? What's wrong with you?" Superheat123 couldn't help but sigh. "LaLaLand's right, keep it down. She probably caught 'Writer's Block' and couldn't make it. It's not that uncommon nowadays." Kruk frowned and grumbled. "I still say it was murder..." Nephertiri couldn't keep quiet. "And what would be the motive, genius? It's fanfictions we're talking about! Why would someone kill over that?" Gingerstorm101 and LaLaLand nodded in agreement.)**

**An older man walked into the room and clapped his hand. "Excuse me, may I have everyone's attention please? Ah, thank you." A cough. "I've been asked to inform you all that the memorial service will begin shortly, so if you would all please make your way down the corridor and take your seats it would be highly appreciated. Thank you." **

**And thus all left the room, one by one and headed to the memorial service. All save for the redheaded girl who, unnoticed by anyone, stood by the casket and stared at the corpse inside of it. The man could only watch her in sympathy. He decided to leave her alone to pay her respects. "Don't take long, please," he smiled gently at her, and with a sympathetic 'poor girl' closed the doors behind him.**

**The girl only continued to stare at the corpse of her peer with a blank expression. Something was itching her insides, yet she couldn't name the emotion. **

**A sudden thought came. '_She looks... so peaceful._' Her fingers tightened around the paper bag she was holding. And in a second her blank expression twitched into one of annoyance. '_….. the b*tch!_'**

"**You. Are.-" she growled through her clenched teeth.**

**The girl in the casket popped one eye opened at the redhead. "What?-"**

"**-Utterly REPULSIVE!" she swung the paper bag and hit the presumably dead girl square in the face.**

"**Uf!" the girl fell back, before jumping back up. "Hey hey hey! What's the big idea?" **

"**I don't know! You tell me! Sending me messages while I am in the shower, saying 'You are cordially invited to my funeral. Someone will send you the details and remember to bring flowers. P. S. Don't buy roses, be original! P. P. S. Oh, and bring me a change of cloths, something black. It's a funeral after all'?"**

**The girl sitting in the casket looked genuinely confused on what was the problem. "Did you not bring the cloths?"**

"**NO, I BROUGHT YOU THE STINKIN' CLOTHS BUT YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT!"**

"**Jesus Christ, don't shout, it's a funeral."**

**The redhead was on the verge of snapping the girl's neck. She took deep long breaths and covered her face with her hands in an attempt to refrain herself from doing so. In and out, in and out... One last deep breath, and she finally remembered who she was talking to in the first place. She looked back the girl who was taking off the dress she was supposed to be 'buried' in. "Calmed down?"**

"**Hardly," she monotoned. "Alright, now, mind explaining what in the nine hells you are doing, Miss?"**

"**I'm dressing up for the memorial service." She threw a 'duh' look at the other girl. "I wanna hear all the sweet and legendary things people have to say about me."**

**An inevitable twitch of her fingers. "If that's the reason why you organized yourself a WHOLE F*CKING funeral and why you were playing possum in a casket, I swear to God, I'll make sure they bury your body with it."**

"**OH, **_**please**_**. Like I'd go through so much trouble just for a few compliments," the girl waved her hand in dismissal.**

**A frown. "Then ****why**** are you pretending to be dead?"**

**The girl in question raised two fingers upon tying up her hair and putting a pair of shades on. "Two words: Life. Insurance."**

"**... Are you kidding me?"**

"**Not in the slightest. Are you even **_**aware**_** of the amount of money you get? Now, how do I look?" she spread her hands.**

"**Peachy. (-_-)"**

"**Great! Let's go." the girl gave the redhead a 'thumbs up' before proceeding to the door. "I think I heard someone mention that there were bagels or something..."**

* * *

**Alright, alright, who sucks? *raises hand* That's right, me. No apologizes are going to make up for not updating. So here comes the next best thing! An update for not updating! *gently places a hand on her chest* Yes, yes, I know. I'm such a generous person. Joking, joking. ;P **

**Apologizes for using you guys in the little scene above without asking for your permissions. Those who don't like it, tell me and I'll change your name with someone else's. And those who I didn't use but would like to appear for the memorial service, send me a message and tell me what 'oh-so-kind' words would you like to share about the *cough, cough* deceased girl. **

… **Yes, I have a weird sense of humor. **

**Much needed 'thank you's to: Higurashi-Naku, Jumper, Kage Yoru, 030artastic, and that's all she wrote, Booyah, KrysOfSorrow, nephertiri, Mysterious Anonymous Reviewer, Gingerstorm101, TheEndReaper, anonymous, animalllover, lover and The Amethyst Eyes, for reviewing or adding me to their faves or alerts. Luv ya guys. :3 And a special 'thank you' to my friend for allowing me to use her in the scene above and to my beta, LovelyWeather, for her ever-lasting patience (or in some cases not) with my horrible grammar. ^^**

**So here it is people! Get ready to bite your nails (heaven knows I did mine, in utter frustration, while writing this) and enjoy the games. Those who don't remember what happened, my advice to you is: skim the last chapter and- get reading!**

* * *

"_And I know that you don't  
Like the way that it goes  
We're all in, so begin  
But just remember: I win." _

_**Breaking**__** Benjamin**__** "No **__**Games"**_

**Chapter 6: Reversed Tag (part 1)**

His eyes hurt. The darkness was suddenly ripped right in front of him and light pounced at him, drilling its fingers into his eyes. A hiss escaped him as he turned his head to the side. His chest pulsed in a quivering, yet steady rhythm, as if begging some force in the universe to let this be just a dream, for something to shake him back to reality; pointlessly pleading him not to feast his eyes upon the nightmare he was sure to confront.

'_Please don't look, please don't look, please don't look__, please don't-_'

He did.

Robin forced himself to look despite the throbbing pain in his head and discerned a familiar dark shade of eyes veneered over with a glossy orange. A chorus of gasps followed behind him. His eyes widened.

_"-very... **heartwarming**."_

She stared back at him, wide-eyed and lips slightly parted, like a deer in the headlights waiting for the blow.

"Raven," he murmured without even realizing it. And then he heard it.

"_So what do you say, little bird?" _

His eyes drank in the rest of picture. Two armored hands slid down her shoulders and gripped her upper-arms. A single leering eye leaned closer to her ear and met his gaze with an overbearing feeling of superiority.

"_Won't you play with me?"_

"Slade!"

_**Panic!**_

Gloved hands collided with the solid material. His whole ribcage snapped around his lungs like a bear-trap, cutting off his oxygen, shooting spikes of fear through his limbs. "Get away from her!"

"Dude!" the changeling took a step back. Cyborg and Starfire gasped. "Raven!"

And yet...

Despite all of their horrified reactions, she stood still, like a passive figure on a grotesque painting of some mad artist. Dilated eyes shimmering in bewilderment, her whole posture disturbingly stiff. She... _just __stood there!_

"Raven!" he yelled out, fleetingly surprised at how his warning came out as a growl. "What are you doing? Get away!"

Again, nothing. She watched him wordlessly, without so much as moving a muscle.

His fist descended once more upon the glass surface, smashing against it. "**Raven!**"

Silence. Nothing. His muscles were clenching.

"**Move ****dammit!**"

"_Fine."_

. . .

A short pause in which it seemed like air and sound were sucked out of the room, and he was left to stare dumbly at her. Suddenly her shimmeringly wide and bemused eyes melted into a frighteningly forceful and firm glint. Unconsciously, he took a step back. Anxiety and anger evaporated as that one word, said so calmly and solidly, hit him like a bullet that left his brain scattered all over the floor.

"... what?"

* * *

It was a twitch.

"So what do you say, little bird?" His large hands slid down her shoulders.

* * *

_The sky was red. As if it was bleeding from the fresh corpse that was the city. She had killed it. She **would** kill it. And he had imprinted that reminder into her skin so maliciously. He whispered so knowingly of her crime and watched, delighted, as the last drop of pressure made her erupt. _

* * *

"Won't you play with me?"

It was all too familiar. The disgusting relish in his voice and the position he held her in.

Yes, it was just a twitch of her fingers. Caused by a sudden restrain of the urge to spin around and release hell on the man behind her. To grab him by the neck and hiss in his face, and then_ squeeze it_, _**squeeze it**_, make it **snap**-!

_**No!**_

_Stop. Calm down. Don't think about it. _

The muted picture continued to play in front of her. Robin, he's yelling. They all are. Cyborg. Starfire. Beastboy. Their eyes met and mirrored her own. Their lips moved too fast for her to follow. The words were lost to her, but their meaning wasn't. But their eyes... Their eyes... They were-

* * *

_...-engraved in stone. Haunting. Trapped. A sight of pure fear. A picture of vulnerable creatures crawling and scattering to their feet in a mad dash to flee. She prays. **Run**. **Please run!** But they can't move. They're not even breathing, yet in their stone eyes she still sees them running. _

_Screaming. _

_**Dy**i**ng.**_

* * *

Robin's fist mutely hit against the glass. Only then was she once again aware of their predicament. Her team was held contained. Slade. He was behind her. He asked a question. _What was it? _

"_Won't you play with me?"_

Her brain started racing to catch up with their current situation and to figure out every underline she knows there is, hidden behind his every word.

Play. He was challenging her. No. He was challenging her to refuse.

_To refuse w__hat?_

"_Games."_

There was a cryptic meaning behind that word that almost sent a shiver up her spine.

Her team's movements became more and more intense behind the orange colored glass. They're all shouting at her. And despite the silence that was wrapped around the room she could hear their voices ringing in her head.

The strong grip tightened around her skin. He was getting impatient.

Games. What did he mean? Was the clue hidden in the tone of his voice? It was smooth, certain and so... _patronizing._

There had been a lump stuck in her throat the size of a grape. And it just burst open, dripping rich droplets of bitterness down her throat.

She was wrong. Slade was not challenging her to refuse. No.

**Far** from it.

"_Won't you play with me?"_

"Fine."

He was ridiculing her because he **knew** she wouldn't.

* * *

There was a moment in which everyone froze and stared at them. She could imagine it. His lips smoothly yet sickeningly curving into a smirk. She could just feel it.

"Excellent." He let go of her.

Raven stumbled a bit, suddenly feeling unbalanced. Quickly regaining her footing she let out a breath she wasn't even aware of holding. Surely, but slowly, she straightened up and as she turned around the whole room was suddenly brightened in a dimmer light.

It took a moment for her eyes to adapt to the shady colors around her. Once they did she was met with a wide and spacious room with dirt colored walls and a high ceiling. A broad opening was on the wall to her right that led to what she could only guess to be the way she came in. And across the room, facing her, behind the armor-clad villain was a computer with a giant screen displaying static, framed with a dozen of other smaller ones.

A small frown appeared on her face when her eyes stopped on the man who had his back turned to her and was typing away on the computer. "So what exactly do you want?"

"A little slow today, are we my dear?" A final tap and the static on the monitors cleared up into a simple dark gray color with a white six-digit timer in the middle of each one. "To put it simply," he turned to her and their eyes met. The timers on the screens all read 00:05:00.

"I'd like to have a little contest with you."

The countdown begun.

Her frown deepened. "Contest?"

"Just a little series of challenges between you and me in which the prize is quite obvious," he gestured with his hand nonchalantly and took a few steps towards her. She held his gaze as he continued. "Allow me to put it like this: the container behind you is made out of a special material of my own design. Unfortunately, I don't plan on going into details about it, since you're already short on time, but rest assured- it **is** indestructible." The last part of his sentence seemed like it was meant more for the rest the Teen Titans than for her.

"The ceiling in there contains small punctures which are linked to a vent that leads to the air supply room." The distance between them gradually disappeared and much to her discomfort Slade stood towering in front of her. "However," he inclined slightly towards her as if to make sure she understood every word he said, "beside it there is another room which is filled with **h****ydrogen cyanide.***"

Still keeping eye contact, he took a moment in which he let every syllable, slowly and clearly slip out of his mouth and sink into her brain. "And it's sealed off with a **very** sensitive lock to which I have the remote control to."

"Am I clear?"

. . .

Saliva gathered under her tongue and silently (or at least what she hoped was silently) she swallowed it.

"Yes."

"Good," Slade straightened up, his voice revealing a tinge of satisfaction. "Then we may let the first game begin."

"Here are the rules," the man turned away from her and linked his hands together. "For each game we play there will be an estimated amount of time set. Once it passes the game ends. Each game will have its own set of rules by which we will both abide and-" he turned his head to glance at her, "I've made sure that none of us have the upper-hand." His eye narrowed when his look stopped on the _little present_ he left on her hand.

A scowl pulled at the edges of her lips. "And I'm just supposed to believe that you won't break any of them or find a way around them?"

"To believe me or not is completely up to you, my dear," by now he was fully facing her. "But I don't think you have a choice in the matter. Besides, the later one you mentioned works both ways, doesn't it?"

'_He's right,_' her eyebrows slightly furrowed as she tucked that tidbit of information in the back of her head for later.

"To win," he took a step to the side and started pacing around her, "all you have to do it hold out until the end of each game. In which case your friends will get another day of breathable air."

"**But...**" he stopped just behind her and once more his proximity made the hairs on her back stand up. "If you lose... Well...", a chuckle, "I think you're quite aware of what will happen then."

Pictures flashed through her head. Her team choking, twitching, clawing at anything and nothing as their lugs screeched in agony. The skin on her neck tingled with an insane urge to shudder.

"Do you understand?"

. . .

"Yes."

"I thought so." A nerve-wrecking tingle in her arms told her that he was most likely smirking. His hands once more cupped her shoulders and Raven found herself momentarily surprised at how big and heavy they were. "The first game we'll play is a simple game of..."

"Reversed Tag."

. . .

She blinked. For a second she strongly thought that she must have misheard him.

"... what?"

"It's a common children's game. I'm surprised you haven't hear of it." The tone of his voice made it hard for her to decipher if he was making fun of her or if he was actually serious. A light push of his hands on her shoulders and he was leading her toward the center of the room. "Reversed Tag, also known as Man Tag, is a game in which one person is chosen to be _it _and is given the simple task of _not_ getting caught by the other players for..." with a sudden stop he turned the two of them towards the pitch-black entrance, "Let's say about 15 minutes."

'_Other players?_'

No sooner had her head formulated the question than did it die away when a dozen of Sladebots emerged from the darkness. Two by two, they continued to advance towards her. Uneasiness gripped her insides more and more with each step they took. Her skin itched with an undesirable urge to take a step back as they drew nearer, but the large hands kept her still. Trapped. They were still coming. Instinctively, she tensed up, ready to struggle as she was within an arm-length of them and-

-They passed her.

It took her a moment to comprehend that little fact. She sneaked glances left and right, cautiously watching the robots as one by one on each side of her they disappeared somewhere behind her.

"Relax," he gave her a light tap on her shoulders, a gesture that made the red-hooded girl inside her stir with detest. "They won't move until the round begins."

Her fingers tensed as she forbid herself from curling them into fists. Oh, he was enjoying this. Holding her on edge and watching her twitch and tense like a rabbit did from the slightest sound and movement (_oh,_ _the irony_). Raven cursed in her mind for allowing herself to be so easily lead and humiliated by him. Even though the comparison for this situation would be far from being repeatedly poked with a stick in a pitch-black room, that's exactly how she felt at the moment.

Raven felt Slade's weight shift as he leaned closer to her ear once more. Her eyes narrowed as she slightly turned her head to- "You have 30 seconds."

Her eyes widened. Her head snapped to the direction of the screens. The muscles in her body stiffened.

00:00:30

00:00:29

Her eyes darted further to the side. The robots stood in two rows of six facing them, waiting to pounce.

00:00:28

"Be careful," he breathed in her ear, "You might lose more than you can imagine."

She dashed into the darkness.

* * *

He rarely had this feeling. Well, not exactly. This combination of satisfaction and delight usually came when his plans worked out exactly as he designed them to, even to the smallest of details in their carefully constructed content. He foresaw every motion and action in them, manipulated the enemy's turf, allies, foes, everything to make his plot a success and get what he wanted.

He remembered getting bored of it at some point.

Bored of the tasteless bunch who couldn't do anything to stop him when he suddenly appeared. Few of them would use their gun how they were supposed to. Even less could even hold it straight.

It went against the way he did things. A hunter stays invisible to his prey at all time. He's silent. He's unnoticeable. He's patient. He _does_ **not** reveal himself until the last possible second of his prey's life. But the thrill diminished. It seemed as if Jump city would become just another victim that wasn't even putting up that much of a fight. Yes, it pushed under his grasp. Yes, it kicked under his weight, it clawed at his grip, but each movement seemed half-hearted. It wasn't giving in, but to some ounce of miserable strength it wasn't giving up either.

But soon the Teen Titans showed up. They didn't use guns. They didn't hide away. And Slade had yet to decide if he cursed their appearance in Jump city or applauded their willingness and determination to try and save it.

He was so close back then. So close. Maybe it was because he took so much time hesitating in delivering the last blow. Maybe if he hadn't taken his time to watch it wail and squirm in 'hope' of a challenge, the crime infested city would have been his.

But the truth was, whether he ceased control of it or not - didn't matter. Because in the end, the Teen Titans became his favorite playthings.

With a content smirk, Slade linked his hands behind his back. "Now then. As for all of you..."

* * *

He lazily turned his head towards the remaining 'guests' and strolled over to them.

"_I apologize for the delay. As you saw I had more important business to attend to."_

Robin could feel his insides being stitched together with tension as he marched up to his nemesis. "Damn it, Slade! What are you going to do to her?"

If the situation they were in had been any less dangerous than it was, Cyborg would have thrown a sympathetic glance his way and spare his leader the humiliation of talking to himself. Since that was not the case here, he opted for a serious sentence. "He can't hear you Robin. Whatever this container is made of its definitely soundproof-"

"_Whatever could you mean, Robin?"_

Slack-jawed, he threw a few quick peeks at both sides, before staring at the man on the other side of the glass. "... Oh, he's good. (O.O)"

"You know what I mean!" he took a few more steps till he was almost face to face with the masked villain.

The boy took notice of the sladebots who begun to move as the timer reached 00:00:00, right toward the entrance across them. Where **Raven** _**went**_.

His eyes narrowed. "What are you planning?"

"_Oh, spare me the cliche questions, Robin. They're becoming quite tedious and repetitive."_

Robin's scowl deepened. Every threat he wanted to say, as it was the only thing he could do at that **damned** moment, pushed and shoved its way up his throat only to come out as a growl. "I swear **to **_**God**_**, Slade**, if you hurt her I'll-"

**SLAM!**

-Gloved fingers spread upon impact with the glass where the boys head was. Startled, he flinched back. For a second he couldn't comprehend what had happened.

And then he saw it. They all did.

"_How **courageous** of you, Robin. How **courageous.** of. you. **indeed**."_

The dense and sharp color of Slade's eye was like an edge of a silver knife they could all feel slowly, _**oppressively**_ gliding under their throats.

"_You will. **do.**_ _**what?**"_

The brutal intonation of his voice was void of all mockery or superiority. It was sadism in its purest form. Leaking from his mouth like saliva of a monster hovering above a child. Dripping in their ears, circling around their bodies, and for the first time showing them the side of the villain only their leader knew of. That **he'd** been exposed to. That **he** warned them about. And yet only now did the rest of the Titans feel the gravity of those warnings as that unmerciful eye kept weighting them down. Squeezing and crushing them in their own skins.

Robin was no exception. He may have seen this side of the villain before, but each time felt like the first. And time and time again, it left a shadow of intimidation over him and left him even more paranoid about the madman than the already was.

"_I'm sure that whatever you had in mind will **certainly** be as effective as all of your **other** attempts, **boy**."_

Thick silence surrounded them as if it was Slade's faithful servant. And like a good little servant it would not let anyone speak but its master. The man lowered his hand.

"_Here's a little piece of advice for you. **All of you.**"_

He slightly narrowed his eye.

"_Mind your roles. Especially you, Robin."_

His full attention was back on the boy, though Robin could have sworn it never left him.

"_**Don't** try to play the hero."_

Slade turned his back to them and headed towards the pathway their teammate had taken not too long ago.

"_For all of your sakes."_

And then he disappeared.

"_Enjoy the show."_

* * *

Darkness. **Darkness**. Darkness, all around her. And she ran head-first into it. Her heart hammered in her ears-

_(Run.)_

-and time and time again, she kept mistaking it with the sound of footsteps.

_(Tap, tap, tap! somewhere behind you.)_

So she ran, because she couldn't stop and analyze it. She didn't want to risk it. If she stops-

_(You get caught.)_

And if she loses...

_(They **die**.)_

The fear was there, unacknowledged, but it was there. Nudging her in the back of her head and repeating itself like a broken record. So she ran. And somewhere along her sprint she became aware of the heavy feeling in her lungs. The fear was thus shushed ('_it doesn't help'_) and her pace gradually slowed until she stopped, one arm on the wall holding her up.

Each breath her shaky lungs drew in fed just a tad bit more oxygen to her brain. And little by little she came back to her senses. Raven threw a quick glance over her shoulder. Held her breath.

...

Nothing. (_Yet._)

The girl couldn't make a connection. All of this! It... It was all just too..._**random**_!

Raven has always functioned better when she understood what the blinking hell was happening around her. If it was a robbery, criminals would steal out of greed. The questions like: what, who and why would be answered and responded to with a proper 'butt-whooping' as Cyborg put it. And the same could be said for all situations they handled: the intents and actions were normal (as normal as they could get) and fitted in a reasonable pattern (again, as reasonable as it could get). But this?

What in the Trigon's name was _this_?

Had someone told her that she'd be playing... 'tag' against Slade and his robots with her team's lives on the line she would have regarded them with the same bemused look she usually saved only for Beastboy's intelligence. Yet here she was, dancing to the madman's tune, and still not believing it completely herself.

Her spine tingled in paranoia, which urged her to look over her shoulder just once more and make sure no one showed up. Eyes back in front of her, she noted the faint speck of light in the distance, the way she came first from.

'_No,_' her eyes narrowed. This couldn't have been it. Providing her only with one path. She wasn't in-tuned with Slade's moves as Robin was, but she was no fool. He said this was a game, right? A game of tag no less. And what's a game of tag without a wide play-field?

One hand still on the wall, she took measured but hurried steps, feeling along the cold surface for an edge, or a knob, or... something! She found the first mentioned. Her thumb lost the rough concrete it was gliding against and dipped.

'_A corner,_' her eyes widened for a moment. '_I knew it!_'

And as if on cue, she heard it-

Steps.

Raven quickly leapt into the pathway and in a single motion spun around, facing the hallway. The rustling of her cloak made her pull it closer to her body. She took a quiet step back.

-Low taps in almost perfect synchrony...

Another step back. She slowed her breathing.

-Closer. Closer. Closer.

Evenly, she continued to glide backwards.

-Hum of mechanical muscles...

Purple irises locked in front, carefully waiting.

'_There!_' A dozen of barely visible gleaming eyes. And she just waited, tensed, watching them like an ally cat watches a human who just met its gaze. Bit by bit, her neck tingled with anticipation for the moment when she would lose sight of them. Only then did she realize that she didn't know if she was waiting in fear or relief.

One pair of gleaming eyes gone. Two. Three. Four. Her heart beat in paradoxical impatience. Five. Six. And so on. Relief was seeping into her chest until the last pair of eyes stopped. And turned right towards her.

She froze.

. . .

They stared at each other. Neither moved, neither breathed. The surreal moment seemed to last eons. Her legs tensed. The lack of movements and sounds made her question her own visibility in the dark. Her instincts began to conflict. Stay? Move? Run? Hide? Dangerous decisions. Dangerous possibilities. Yet one was clear. She had to do _something_.

Hesitantly she took a step back and, as if in response, the robot took a step forward. Her eyes widened, but the shock reduced as the robot continued to advance in a balanced pace.

He couldn't see her.

Using this to her advantage she took a few more steps and as quietly as she could lifted her right hand to glide along the wall. A step forward. A step back. Two different paces, yet she tried to keep the distance between them even. And then her hand lost the surface. Raven had to stop herself from making a noise in her throat. She continued to try and keep the gap between them as it was, as she moved her hand in a slow circular motion, searching for the opposite corner of the one she had lost.

She bit her lip- she felt nothing. Little by little the gap was becoming smaller, precious millimeters and centimeters that gave her some confidence were squeezing past her and tension in her chest rose. Her nails suddenly scratched the rough surface and without thinking she slipped right against it, keeping her back pressed flush against the wall.

Raven no longer kept the robot's white gaze and she thanked Azar it didn't follow her but kept its gleaming mechanic eyes forward. Steadily, her eyes followed the robot; from in front of her to her side, and finally out of her sight.

. . .

A silent sigh. Pulling her hood up she glanced around the corner. She saw nothing. But by the slight dimming in the sound of its footsteps she knew it hadn't discovered her.

Her relief was short lived as she raised her head and caught sight of an identical pair of eyes some distance away in the same pathway she was concealing herself in. And beyond that another one. And another. Each dimmer in the darkness. And another. Disappearing and reappearing. None seemed to stare at her, yet coldness seeped into her chest all the same.

'_This place..._' a hollow breath, '_is bigger than I thought._'

* * *

There wasn't a lot he didn't like about himself. He had learned to accept many things in his life, being bit by an ill monkey, being saved by his parents and a serum that granted him the abilities he had now. Having his senses heightened always came in handy in one way or another. Except in these sort of situations.

"Dude..." he breathed out.

_**Fear**_. He hated it. It lingered in the air and for a second he wondered if only he felt its chilly hands gliding over him. His insides twitched, wanting him to react in some way. Any way! Yet he stayed still. "W-What was that?" His bones were rattling. "It was like... j-just..."

"...Yeah." The older teen beside him whispered, still not quite being able to register what had played out just a minute ago.

The silence still lingered, as if nonchalantly waiting to see which one would break its hold on them.

Starfire wrapped her arms around herself. The skin on her arms tingled. Her eyes were wide and still glued to the empty space where the villain stood not too long ago. Her lips were pried open with a whisper. "Nish'blorg."

A nightmare. Yes, just like a nightmare. Baring its teeth and licking its lips hungrily. Opening its mouth to swallow you, only to suddenly stop and slither back into the darkness. Leaving you to question yourself on what had just taken place as the probability and the improbability of the event clashed and swirled in your mind.

Her eyes suddenly fell onto the still boy in front of them, who was staring well beyond the gamboge glass at the dark entrance. He had his back turned to them, his cape hiding his clenched fists and his unruly hair shielding the scowl and the self-detest on his face.

"Robin?"

Nothing. Only a moment later did he slightly turn his head to glance at her out of the corner of his eyes. But when she said nothing and continued to patiently wait for him with pleading eyes, he had no choice but to turn and face her completely. His full attention was back on her and the team. No.

'_Not the whole team._'

Ridding himself of any expression he met the gazes of the present Titans. Their full attentions were directed only at him as if asking '_Now what?_' and waiting patiently for his orders.

He honestly didn't know. His masked eyes narrowed. One thing was obvious to all of them though. They wouldn't just sit still and do nothing.

Beastboy's eyes suddenly widened. "Hey! Look!" the changeling pointed. All eyes followed in the direction the green boy was pointing at.

Robin's eyes widened and, slack-jawed, he took a step closer.

The giant monitor read 00:12:38. And the smaller ones surrounding it-

Eyes wide in disbelief, Starfire followed suit. Her fingers touched the glass. "... I-Is that-?"

The smaller ones surrounding it all showed dim hallways with white circles of light that fell from the above to the floor in different angles.

Save for one.

* * *

Their gazes met.

Only this time her reaction was a calm and calculating one. She smoothly moved to the side and pressed her back against the wall. The robot kept advancing her way.

She had to wait.

Agitation clawed at her back.

Seconds seemed to melt into minutes upon noticing the robots. And the way she had to move to the side as silently as possible just to _wait!_ for them to pass her and repeat the cycle over again was nothing less than abuse to her patience and nerves. Because they were always _so. __**Damn.**__ Close._

_'Come on...' _she encouraged herself and kept her breathing tormentingly slow as the robot passed beside her._ 'Just a little longer.' _

Soon the angle of her position didn't allow her to see the robot's eyes, but Raven knew that it wasn't far from her. So she continued to wait. The steps were getting quieter. A breath her lungs needed, and she quickly rounded the corner.

She took a moment to consult her mini made-up map as she recited how many turns she had taken. From what Raven could conclude the hallways were all connected, making a dozen crossroads. How far did they go? She had no idea and probably wasn't going to find out anytime soon in this dark. Right now had she taken two turns left. Thus if she was to avoid going in circles, she should take two right ones now. She followed the wall until she reached another crossroad and peaked her head sideways for precaution.

A gleaming pair of eyes had just turned right into that hallway. She quickly pulled back and repeated her earlier actions. She pressed herself against the wall, slowed down her breathing and waited. Again. Steps gradually grew louder. Wait. Don't breathe too fast. Wait. Would it hear her heart? It was beating so hard. _Be still. _The gleaming eyes passing. Slowly. Slowly. Much too slowly. They disappeared, but the steps didn't. They began to fade, yet she still found herself holding her breath.

And they were gone.

She pushed herself off of the wall and walked silently after it. How much longer was this _game_ going to last? How much time had passed anyway? Against her better judgment she found stopping when a new problem dawned on her. She had no idea how, and no way to measure the time of the games. And even though it wasn't voiced or made obvious, it was clear that time was the most important factor here. Slade wouldn't hesitate to exploit_ the hell _out of that little fact, she was sure of it.

'_This isn't good._' She bit her lip. '_This isn't good at all._'

Raven shook her head... and then froze.

Steps.

She raised her eyes and saw the familiar gleaming eyes further up ahead, staring back at her. The alarming thing was... It wasn't moving. The distance between them remained the same. Yet the steps continued from its direction.

Click-clack!

Sudden pain in her eyes.

"Now then..."

She cracked her eyes open and noted that all the lights in the hallways were turned on. A single sladebot stood right under the light in the crossway ahead of her. And beside him, a two toned masked emerged from the darkness.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"

* * *

***Hydrogen cyanide –** is a colorless and extremely poisonous chemical compound which was used for the Holocaust *shudders*, nasty thing, by Nazi's in World War II. The speed of death depends on how close the person is to the source of the gas, otherwise its effect is immediate. Symptoms before/during/after death are: the victims are found half-squatting, their skin is colored pink with red and green spots, there's foam in their mouths or they're bleeding from their ears.

* * *

**I hate running scenes... Mostly because the character in question... well... just runs! So there we go! The first crazy little game has begun. Why didn't I complete it in one chapter? Cuz it would take too damn long! Besides, I have this little habit of having more and more words spill out of my brain than necessary while writing... Is that a bad thing? You know where to click to tell me! :D**

**Fave sentences, parts, characters, or just some random little opinion or criticism. They're all welcomed. Happy New Year and I wish you all happy holidays! **

**P.S. All anonymous reviews will be answered on my profile from this point on. Can't have my author's notes longer than the chapter, can I? ;P**


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